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About What's happening. (Eugene, OR) 1982-1993 | View Entire Issue (June 6, 1985)
BOOKS Review: Linden Hills By Gloria Naylor, published by Tick nor & Reids, 1985. Gloria Naylor's second novel, Linden Hills, is about a tyrannical undertaker and wealthy land owner, Luther Needed, and the exclusive black country club de velopment he calls Linden Hills. Needed alone decides who does and who does not get to live in his prestigious mansions on the hill in this fictional southern communi ty. He envisions Linden Hills as a thorn in the flesh of the whites he wants to impress with the trap pings of black success and power. But Linden Hills creates more di visiveness within the black com munity than outside it. Impene trable sociological walls spring up between the ambitious and wealthy who seek the elite Linden Hills address and those who are deliberately left out. Few can see the spiritual vacuum behind the affluence. Luther Needed ruthlessly mani pulates both rich and poor, new comers and old families alike. The man has an unsavory personality driven by a greed for power in herited from male ancestors who were possessed of equal cunning and singlemindedness. In his own house, he is master in the upper levels, but down below where he performs his undertaker role he imprisons his wife and young son, literally starving them to death. Last year Gloria Naylor won critical acclaim for her novel, The Women of Brewster Place, which is soon to be seen on public tele vision. Naylor writes of the black experience with an insider's critical eye. I found Linden Hills more social commentary than fic tion: Getting to the top means los ing one's humanity and connec tedness, choosing power instead of compassion and love brings loneliness and emotional isola- • tion. I find it fascinating that Linden Hills could be written at all. The conflicts which come with success and wealth are not traditional black themes, unlike the struggles of poverty and hardship. Fifteen or 20 years ago large numbers of young people consciously chose lifestyles and values different from those into which they were bom or to which they were sup posed to aspire. They knew they did not want to be presented to society at debutante balls, go to West Point, take over the family business, marry money, or climb the corporate ladder to the board room. Back then, relatively few blacks could reject the values of a society whose fruits they had never tasted. Gloria Naylor's Lin den Hills suggests that although a larger number of blacks may now be dining on the fruits of material success, the taste is bitter and the apples overpriced. —Lois Wadsworth ARTS EXHIBITS Book & Tee Shop, 1646 E 19th Ave. Hand # lumimd Certificates by Pamela Enberg through June 28. Hours: Mon-Sat, 10-6; Sun, 12-5. Cato Central, 384 w 13th. Papercuts by Charles Wiens through June 14. Hours: Mon-Fri, 11 am-11:30 pm; Sat, 10 am-11:30 pm. Color Homo, UO Faculty Club, 13th & University. Drawings and watercolors by students of Ellen Gabehart. Hours: Weekdays, 9-3. Community Center for the Performing Arts, 8th & Lincoln Sts. The Arts—paintings by Ellen Gabehart —through June 30. Hours: Tues-Fri. 3-6 pm; Sat Sun eves. Eugene Public Lbrary, 100 W 13th. Watercolor retrospective by Rances Cushing Hall; sculpture, bronzes by Carol Jackson; oils by Mary Dement Smith. Hours: Mon-Tu, 10-9; Wed-Sat, 10-6. Excelsior Calo, pastels by Alice Rush through June. 754 E 13th. Gallery 141, Lawrence Hall, UO Campus. Ad vanced Ceramics by students June 3-7; sculpture, paintings, multi-media, June 1-14. Hours: Week days, 9-5. Orson Earth Art Center, 1155 W 1st. Blue Ribbon Witmers of 1985 through June. Also watercolors by Richard Quigley. Hours: Mon-Sat, 10-5. Kuyatano Cato, 395 W 5th. Oils by Eve Ujhelvi through June 30. Daily, 7-2 pm; also Fri-Sun evenings, 5:30-9:30. Um Community College, Art Department Gallery, 4000 E 30th. Student Art Exhibit through June 7. Hours: Mon-Thurs, 8 am-10 pm; RI, 8-5. UM Community Moge Lbrary Salary, 4000 E 30th. Sketches and watercolors by Carolyn Nues sle Drum. Hours: Mon-Thurs, 8 am-10 pm; RI, 8-5. Um County Museum, 740 W 13th. Permanent exhibit of Lane County artifacts. Also 150 years of wedding clothes and customs. Hours: Tues-Sat. 10-4; Sun, noon-5. Made in Oregon, 295 E 5th. Ongoing works by regional artists. Hours: Mon-Sat, 10:30-5:30; Sun, 1-5. Maude Kerns Art Cantor, 1910 E 15th Ave. 10 Ar lists: An Ongoing Group features a variety of media by local artists. Hours: Wed-Fri, 12-5; Sat, 10-3; Sun, 1-5. A sophisticated urbanite talks about our public radio station. I had a problem Rock & roll didn t go with Perrier & quiche > l hen l discovered people 1 like Duke Llhnnton & Miles Davis on KLC( Now I listen to it all the Guess I 'll cancel M-IV L J l The best in jazz on KLCC 89FM. CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING BENEFIT Dance for South Africa StaiciLs abuts sigs c M 3 60. poet) -oq®* Oy 60’? gtyle sude how oft 2 Africe. S. 5,pavd An EMU Ballroom JUNE 8th 84 7:30 pm ■ hrgo ‘abnen ' Bantu Rainbow Nation a Color photographs by Timothy Tracz entitled South Jersey are on display in the Photography at Oregon Gallery, UO Art Museum, June 5-30. New Zone Gallery, 411 High St. State of Mind In cludes works by Harold Hoy and Carol Westlake. Hours: Mon-Sat, 11-5. Photography at Oregon Gehry, UO Museum, UO Campus. Color photographs entitled Timothy Tract: South Jersey are on display through June 30. Hours: Weds-Sun, noon-5 pm. University of Oregon Mussum of Art, UO campus. Opening June 23: Two exhibits of Japanese Wood block Prints; Chinese paintings and prints. The museum will remain open all summer. Hours: Wed-Sat, noon-5 pm. University of Oregon Mussum al Natural History, Science Complex, DO Campus. Oregon £ The Pacific Rim returns June 11. Other exhibits In clude: Rant & Animal Fossils, Ravens Cousins: Traditional Arts of the Native Northwest, Botanical Photographs of the Pacific Northwest and Stone and Bone Carvings from the Columbia River. Hours: Tues-Sat, noon-5 pm. WISTEC (Willamette Science and Technology Center), 2300 Centennial Blvd. Jupiter and Its Moons: Space Race, an indoor science play ground; Small Worid, a Nikon photo micrography exhibit; planetarium shows Saturdays and Sun days. Hours: Tues-Sun, 12-5. $2 adults, 75c kids, $1 seniors, college students. 484-9027. Design Wise. 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