be stupider than.”
Castleman's individualism led her to an
itinerant lifestyle before she settled down in
Portland about five years ago.
"Those were the hippy years. I was being a
hippy for a while; a spiritual tram p traveling
with spiritual groups. Then I dreamed I was in
Portland and it's been five years since I re
turned," Castleman said.
"I like Portland. If I'm going to be walking
and riding Tri-Met, why not do it where it’s
pleasant And there's a literate group of les
bians in Portland."
Join in g B J . Castleman as the Angry
Housewives are Alma La Wrentz, Robin
R osem ond and Trish Trout.
A n g ry H ouseiviues plays Thursday
throug h Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 7
p.m. at Sum us Theatre, 13 NW 13th Ave.,
throug h December 22.
Comedy Isn't Pretty
A new troupe of entertainers, calling th e m
selves the “ (Jn-pretty Comedians," are pre
m iering their variety show C om edy Isn t
Pretty, on November 4 at 8 p.m. at JR s
showbar, 300 N.W. 10th Avenue.
C om edy Isn t Pretty is a non-profit organi
zation which will give its proceeds to various
social service agencies in the com m unity.
The recipient during the m onth o f Novem ber
will be the Men s Resource Center. C om edy
Isn t Pretty will run every Tuesday night,
opening night will feature cham pagne and
hors d oeuvres. Tickets for the opening are
$7.50; thereafter tickets are $3.
Written and directed by David Lee, C o m
edy Isn t Pretty will feature a guest host, Ke
vin Koesel. popular Portland actor, will appear
during the inaugural month. Koesel has ac
ted in many local productions including
Doric Wilson's Street Theatre: Babes on
B urnside and Quarters at Storefront Actors
Theatre; and S tray D og S tory and West Side
Gang at the Open Door Theatre.
Kindred spirits
Kindred Spirits. Jeffrey Elliot, ed.; Alyson
Publications, Inc., 1984
by J im H unger
Among literary genre, science fiction ranks
highly in potential to develop new ideas and
to educate its readers, not only in the flaws of
the old ways, but also in the exciting pos
sibilities of new directions. One area of sci
ence fiction is known as utopian fiction, in
fact and encompasses stories which describe
alien or futuristic societies that have devel
oped novel methods for members to interact
socially and to deal with social problems.
Often these “ utopias" turn out to be less than
perfect, as in the cases of Brave H ew World
and 1984. But even so, the framework is there
upon which to present novel ideas and solu
tions that might influence and inspire readers.
Kindred Spirits is an anthology of science
fiction short stories which will be of para
m ount interest to gay sci-fi aficionados, since
all of the stories deal in some way with same-
sex love. Lesbian readers will be especially
pleased to discover that this collection doesn’t
merely pay lip service to gay women, as a
third of the stories are authored by women,
and in over a third of them lesbian relation
ships are an integral factor.
Gay readers in general, however, may be
disappointed to discover that this is not a
collection of stories which take advantage of
the opportunity that the sci-fi genre avails the
writer, to portray positive new ways of looking
at and dealing with certain aspects of society,
such as homosexuality. Some of the tales do,
in fact, present gayness in a com plim entary
light, and some describe cultures in which
sexual taboos have been overcome; others,
however, include homosexuality only in a
peripheral way, or even as a negative factor.
In one story, the paternal love felt but never
physically expressed by an aging space c o m
mander for a young cadet is the only detail
which m ight be interpreted as a suggestion
of homosexuality. In another, the male p ro
tagonist is trying to develop a hetero love
relationship despite considerable odds, but is
thwarted by a sinister force that possesses
him and throws him into the arm s o f —
shudder! — another man.
In one story in particular, "Nuclear Fission,"
author Paul Novitski does m ake a conscious
attempt to portray a society in w hich sexual
double standards and stereotyping have
been surmounted in a positive way. Novitski,
a Seattle writer, uses the W illamette River
Valley as the setting for his story, which de
scribes a com m unal society in which repro
duction and romance are recognized as not
necessarily integrally connected, and same-
sex love is com m onplace and uninhibited by
social mores.
Curiously, all of the stories authored by
women conjain some form o f physical vio
lence, either chivalric battling or gun play and
mentions o f duels; the twist is that wom en are
the executors o f the violent acts, rather than
men, as is typical in mainstream fiction. One
can’t help wondering whether this is a posi
tive development, or in fact an unfortunate
case of women identifying in a backlash way
with less savory aspects of what is generally
perceived to be masculine behavior.
No discussion has been included thus far
of writing style because, while all of the stories
are more than adequate in this area, the ideas
presented are more im portant than the liter
ary style o f the authors, which is a basic truth
for most science fiction. Also, one assumes
that a m ulti-authored anthology of stories will
have a higher literary standard, since the
selections were chosen for their quality and
relevance rather than because they were w rit
ten by a particular author. K indred S pirits is
262 pages of entertaining and undem anding
science fiction which have as a unifying
factor some m ention of hom osexuality in
each story. Most of the tales do not portray
societies which have com e to term s with
same-sex love, and so one of the m ost posi
tive aspects of the genre of science fiction is
not apparent in this collection; however, a
number of the stories do contain heroic gay
characters, which is a refreshing change
from the standard treatment of gay cha r
acters in mainstream fiction.
Northern Italian Cuisine
Mon.-Sat., 5:30-10:30 p.m.
2832 SE Belmont
Portland, Oregon
238-1464
Call forVeservations.
O pening November 23: S O P H — A V ISIT WITH TH E LA S T O F TH E RED H OT
MAMAS, an original one-wom an musical tribute to the late great Miss Sophie
Tucker. SOPH stars Wendy Westerwelle, directed by Ric Young with musical
direction by Ron Snyder.
Just Out, October 26 November 23
H