15,2000 r
Speaking out for inclusion
Portland w rite r’s words would be
banished under Measure 9
by
O r ia n a G r e e n
t was certainly gratifying when Rodger Lar
sons coming-of-age novel What I Know
Now was added to Portland Public Schools’
sexual diversity reading list.
His 1997 book tells the story of 14-year-old
Dave and his struggles with sexual identity. It
has been well-reviewed, has been nominated
for big awards and has inspired heartfelt fan
mail.
One O hio teen wrote Larson that it was the
best book he’d ever read. “I love that kid,” Lar
son enthuses over a recent lunch. ‘‘He was just
coming o u t...it makes me feel awfully good
that this might have helped him."
But if Measure 9 passes, Larson’s book and
hundreds like it would be removed from O re
gon public school libraries. “My voice would be
banned,” he says, clearly worried about a return
to the ignorant era of his own upbringing.
Larson, 57, grew up on a large wheat and
barley ranch in the central valley of California,
which is the locale for What I Know Now. In
the Hxik, which is set in 1957, Dave’s isolation
mirrors Larson’s own at the time.
And like his character, Larson had a period
of wondering about his sexuality during his
teen years. “But I convinced myself I was
straight,” he says, recalling how afraid he was
even to look up homosexuality in the card cat
alog, scared someone might see him.
So how autobiographical is it? “It has a real
emotional truth, and that truth is my experi
ence,” Larson confides. “But the events are much
larger than anything that happened to me.”
Larson grew up and spent four years in
the Air Force during the height of the
Cold War at a radar center stationed in
Corvallis. “I learned to love Oregon— I
even love the rain,” he claims. “As a
writer I work well with the internal rumi
nating it inspires.”
Larson eventually settled in Portland,
where he has lived for 30 years now, “so
it’s really home.”
During his early years in the Rose City,
he worked as a landscape planner for the
Parks Department, experience that also
found its way into his book. “The central
metaphor of the book is building a garden,
so 1 used my own knowledge,” he
explains.
And during those same 11 years Lar
son was also married, still trying to con
Rodger Larson and his buddy, Malouf
vince himself he was straight. “When I
began to divorce and come out, I didn’t want
Before long, he realized he had bigger aspi
to do the landscaping work anymore.”
rations and began studying with Portland nov
W hat followed was a granddaddy of a
elist Tom Spanbauer as part of his critique
midlife crisis. Larson coped by going back to
group. “I credit him with a lot of my growth as
college and eventually earning a master’s
a writer," Larson reveals. “I could tell there was
degree in creative writing.
a step I needed to make between amateur and
He also met and fell in love with his part
professional.. .my words needed to trigger emo
ner, Andy Simon. They registered as domestic
tions for the reader.. .and he helped me get to
partners during the “1,000 Years of Commit
the poetry of language.”
ment” ceremony Sept. 9. “We’ll add our 20
After a stint teaching at Metropolitan
years,” Larson says proudly.
Learning Center, Larson now leads his own cri
But writing in his journals is what really
tique groups for fiction writers in his home. “I
kept him sane. “It helped me process what was
tell my students to aim high.. .a couple of them
going on,” he recalls.
are close to getting published,” he says.
And Larson is taking his own advice.
He just finished his second novel, Raindog,
and has high hopes for its publication.
Although his first book was also written
for an adult audience, because of the vicissi
tudes of publishing, it ended up classified as a
book for high schoolers. Larson is determined
that won’t happen with his latest effort.
“Raindog is about a very caring, tender
and meaningful relationship that includes
graphic and passionate sex," he explains. It’s
also about a 16-year-old boy and a man twice
his age, who is also mute.
Why mute? “It’s a metaphor for being
silenced as a gay person,” he says.
And does he foresee his sexuality being
part of all his books? “I think being gay is
such a big part of who I am that it’ll always
be there in some way.”
So how did Larson get his big break?
The stories you’ve heard about how difficult
it is to get a book published are true. Larson
now has a highly regarded New York agent,
but lest anyone think it was easy, consider he
sent out 46 query packages during a six-
month period. Number 47 did the trick.
Now that he’s found his true calling, he’s
enjoying all the attendant duties, even giving
readings. “Writing is very independent and
lonely, and you have this relationship with this
other person you never m eet...and readings are
a chance to get feedback from readers,” he
explains j r n
R odger L arson will read from What I
Know Now and his new book, Raindog, during
the next meeting of the Literary Triangle 7 p.m.
Sept. 22 at Barnes & Noble Lloyd Center,
1231 N .E . Broadway. Call (503) 3 3 /-/3 0 7
for more information.
So he p u l l e d out
m y “J i m Beam »
a n d to h i s s u r p r i s e
a s Wh S e v e r y bit ’
h t r d as h i s
C a n a d i a n Club ”
“ no
Guide courtesy of
ju s tn r n
Call (503) 236-1253 to advertise.
a
U
ull Lottery
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