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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 1984)
RE I V A movie and din-din and that’s the way it was on my walk to Metro Cafe. The Metro Cafe is a little place, very simple, good quality, and it's smack in the middle of a Southeast neighborhood. You can't eat its decor, but if you could, it would probably taste like homemade strawberry ice cream. mussels from the Oregon Coast pasta from Pastaworks, produce from Como's. The Metro's breads and desserts are baked fresh daily at the cafe. The large selection of wines are French and local. The coffee is roasted in Corvallis. The attitude of the staff is fresh as well, friendly, unpretentious, and helpful. The Metro Cafe is a collectively run busi ness, established in 1982 by three women who put their heads together, pooled tneir skills and came up with something special. The collective currently has 10 members. Now, let’s get back to the Monet/Fellini evening, or how about Hopper/Herzog? After a movie at the Clinton Street Theatre (next door), why don't you go on over to the Metro Cafe for a late dinner? Say, some steamed mussels with fettuccine, a couple glasses of wine, then peach-raspberry tart, then more wine, then capucc ino? The prices are moderate. I got out for $ 10. for Noretta Koertge’s latest effort. Valley of the Amazons, the anticipated sequel to Who Was That Masked Woman? With unrestrained candor and relentless wit, Koertge recounts the adventures of Tre- torna Getroek, now Dr. Getroek, a university professor in a small Midwestern town. A keen juxtaposition of humor and wit characterizes Valley of the Amazons; while Koertge pokes fun at her personal experience as a lesbian her observations of the emerging lesbian and gay culture are softened with sensitive humor. The result is an effective invitation to laugh at ourselves as we laugh at her. Who among us has been able to avoid head-on collisions with the follies and foibles of our lesbian existence? The dynamics of our in volvements with one another and our lesbian subculture are such that lighthearted yet poignant perspectives such as those offered by Koertge are as key to our social matura tion processes as perhaps those offered by lesbian sociologists and theorists. There are other qualities to Koertge’s work that deserve recognition here. For example. Koertge resists the omnipresent temptation to present a mere slice of life and vigorously pursues artistic achievement. The fact that we finish the book unsure of the degree to which it is autobiographical should now lead us to accuse Koertge of stretching or glorify ing the truth, rather we should applaud her regard for the reader's enjoyment Like Rita Mae Brown before her, Koertge has realized the valuable contribution to quality possible by the utilizaton of the third person. This qual ity emanates from more than an individual's life chronicles, regardless of how fictionali zed. Therefore, gauging this quality must en compass more than an evaluation of such personal experiences. A writer strives to produce, through her novel, a vehicle, the means by which she moves herself and her readers from point A to point B. This movement is progression and therefore, at its culmination the reader should be further along in her life experience than she was when she began her literary adventure. How pronounced these gains are is a function of the quality of the writing and the perspective of the reader. Valley of the Amazons is a fine example of such a vehicle; at its finish I felt an emotional and intellectual gain — reading it was better than not reading it. This may seem a simple approach to the appraisal of quality but I have found it effec tive. Valley o f the Amazons is available at A Woman's Place Bookstore and Resource Center. Who is Lila B. Burley? Is she an expert flown in from Paris? Is she a trailer court baroness shipped in from Tennessee? Does she have a Ph.D.? Does she have a GED? Did she once have exclusive designs on Natalie Barney? Or was it Barney Rubble? Is she, a he, an it or a thang? Was she really on the Ed Sullivan Show with Jim Nabors? Who is Lila B. Burley and what does she know about style? I'm Lila B. Burley (pronounced Lie-La Bee Burleigh) and what I say is based on Lila B. Burley expertise. People all over the world have begged me for advice. Question 1: Lila, what is style? Style is anything you do when you’re not doin’ nothin' else. Question. 2: Lila, what makes you think you’re an expert on style? Three things. I'm never not doin' nothin’ else. I invented pink foam hair-rollers. My aunt Bula B. Burley, was the first woman to have lavender hair; she worked behind the counter at the five and dime, and y’all know that to even get your foot in the door ya gotta have blue hair. Question 3: What is your opinion on the current hanky rage? Well, I'm a little rusty on statistics, but I hear that the newest rage is CF (Color Confusion). There's a private organization just for HCF (Hanky Color Confusion) and if you want the address, send me 50 bucks and all your hankies. Question 4: Lila, what is all the rage these days? I'm glad you asked me that However, there's a lot of raging, so here's a partial list: 1. Lavender garter belts for canaries. 2. Your astrological sign imprinted on your forehead. (Works only under black lights.) 3. Tails for evening. (Monkey, mink, fox.) 4. Wax lips. 5. Dildoes dolled up with glitter and used as plant hangers. 6. Studded leather front teeth. 7. Disco music ear muffs. 8. Chaps for chapped lips. by N. Kiefer Valley of the Amazons by Karen Jesser In her routine, Making Light, lesbian/ feminist comedian Kate Clinton describes women's laughter as a survival instinct She is right for without our sense of humor we would go insane. So whenever a well-written, uplifting and wildly funny novel hits the shelves at the local women’s bookstore, this reader rejoices. Rita Mae Brown, while perhaps the most publicized, is not the only contributor to the emerging and, thankfully, growing genre of modern lesbian/feminist literature. Make room in your personal library Who is Lila B. Burle? Open to All, Every Day FOOD FRONT W It’s not a joint; it's not corny, it’s not sweet, it's not plush. It’s just a good place to be after a Monet-Fellini stroll. My dinner consisted of a glass of pinot blanc, grilled chicken with mustard, a good house salad (with water chestnuts), a cup of coffee, and a chocolate torte called Queen of Sheba. It was an exquisite dinner, spicy and aromatic. The grilled chicken had an indescribable flavor of Dijon mustard, shallots, garlic and tarragon. The chicken was served with a French potato salad, homemade French bread and rice. I’m still working on a way to describe it How about sweet-hot-odd cursive-unmerciful. The coffee was deep, rich and full. (Where was the acid I’m used to?) The Queen of Sheba was dense but not too dense, sweet but not too sweet good and not at all not good. The Metro Cafe specializes in fresh cuisine. The proprietors buy fresh local seafood. The Metro Cafe 2524 SE Clinton Portland, OR 97202 230-1220 Open for dinner, 5:30-11:00, Tuesday-Satu rday Open for brunch, 10-1, Sunday Sometimes it’s like this: It's August, it’s evening, and the light is landing on objects in a specific and mysterious way. Then dogs bark, screen doors slam, and poodles walk by wearing tutus. You know that kind of evening, like a cross between Monet and Fellini. Port land neighborhoods are like this sometimes, E • Fresh Pasta • Italian Delicacies and Wines COOPERATIVE GROCERY Whole foods. Real Groceries. natural Treats, fresh Produce Open 7 days. 9 a m. to 8 p.m 2675 NW Thurman 222-5658 TRI MET BUS 53 Just Out, September 14-September 28 Peter de Carmo Don Oman 37 31 S E Hawthorne Portland Oregon 972 14 (503) 232-1010 I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1 ROSEWIND i /r ministries ----------- I ! Psychic Readings • aura • past life • relationships Psychic Development Classes Rev. Judith Dale 284-3910 10% discount on first reading with this ad. — — mi I I I I I I I I I I I I 9