Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013, October 06, 2000, Page 39, Image 39

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    October 6 . 2000 » Jaast o u t 3 g
ON SALE ’ IN STORE and ONLINE
w w w .to w e rre c o rd s .c o m
Elders, we can begin to
more deeply understand
the possibilities for change
in our own lives.
— Sarah Dougher
N ot a D ay G oes B y
by E. Lynn Harris.
Doubleday & Company,
2000; $19.95 hardcover.
V illa g e
P e n n y C o le m a n
and courage. This joins other excellent oral
histories already on my shelf—if you enjoyed
Brxtts of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of
a Lesbian Community or Lonely Hunters: An
Oral History of Lesbian and Gay Southern Life
1948'1968, you certainly will enjoy Village
Elders.
Part photo documentary and part biography,
the book profiles older gay men and lesbians
living in New York City who loosely are affili­
ated by their participation with Senior Action
in a Gay Environment. Penny Coleman allows
the subjects’ wide range of idiosyncrasies to
emerge in her candid black-and-white images.
From the obsessive single activist to the com­
fortable couple in their matching plaid shirts,
the photographs are sensitive and revealing.
The oral history method of obtaining the
profiles in this book is .somewhat haphazard,
but the resulting narratives provide glimpses
into a wide variety of gay experiences during
the past five decades. Because all of the sub­
jects had final editorial say on their sections,
the results are disparate, and no solid narrative
voice provides context or historical framework.
Letting the subjects speak out about their
experiences of gayness (some for the first time
in their lives) has the advantage, however, of
reminding readers about the many options
afforded a gay person growing old and the
changing definitions of concepts such as part­
nership, autonomy and age differences. More­
over, these stories bring together otherwise
invisible bits of private life from decades that,
in mainstream culture, are prone to nostalgic,
static reinvention. Just as we learn to resist nos­
talgic histories by reading books like Village
his is the latest in
best-selling author E.
Lynn Harris’ chroni­
cles of American sexual
and cultural lives. He
sprinted into mainstream
fiction 10 years ago, when
his Invisible Life forced
publishers into a bidding
frenzy after the novel sold
amazingly well from the
back of his car.
Harris’ first books sold
very well, breaking
through to mainstream
best-seller lists; today, his
books are on those lists
before they even are
released. His bcxiks are soaked in both African
American and homo/bi cultures.
But if Harris is the country’s contemporary
voice of bisexuality, we’re all a bit screwed.
Bisexuality, in his books, tends to be merely the
indecisiveness of closeted, frustrated gay men—
men who seem destined to lie to, manipulate
and injure the people they care about and who
only can find true happiness by becoming
exclusively homosexual or heterosexual.
The well-adjusted, happy bisexual man is
not to be found here and only occasionally and
uncertainly is implied to exist at all. The
brightest moment for bisexuality in Not a Day
Goes By comes only in the final paragraph,
which 1 would love to reproduce for you here
in its entirety as an anthem to liberated and
liberal bisexual and polyamorous people every­
where, except it would give the ending away.
But then perhaps 1 already have.
Not a Day Goes By is the story of two of the
most shallow and contemptibly perverse people
you ever will read about. John “Basil” Hender­
son is a former football player and sports com­
mentator who is about to be married to Broad­
way diva Yancey Harrington when their secret
pasts begin to catch up with them.
The novel reads like a Harlequin romance:
He is abominably rich, has exquisite style and
is hung like a horse; she is stunningly gorgeous,
flawlessly talented and sexually adept. The
relationship begins to unravel as silence turns
to whispers, private investigators are hired and
wiretaps are installed. The ending is formulaic,
abrupt and entirely unsatisfactory.
Many of the characters appear in Harris’
earlier works; Basil and Yancey are in If This
World Were Mine and Abide with Me—both
much superior novels to this one. The
wretched wasteland of these two people’s lives
might be a gcxxl lesson to the author that not
everyone’s story is worth spending $20 and
288 pages on.
—Glenn Williams ¡ n
DEAN Si DWELL, MSW, is a Portland counselor
specializing in couples, depression and addiction
issues.
C a t h e r in e S a m e h is the manager of In
Other Words Womens Books and Resources in
Portland.
S a r a h DOUGHER is a Portland musician and
writer.
G len n W il l ia m s writes poetry, prose, plays,
periodica and pom in Portland.
12.99
cd
Stronger
SALE ENDS 10W00
T in
BEAVERTON
3 1 7 5 S .W . C ed ar Hills Blvd.
(Beaverton Mall)
GATEWAY
102nd & Halsey
(Gateway Shopping Center)
I RECORDS‘
VIDEO«BOOHS
www.towerrecords.com
1-800-ASK-TOWER
STORE LO C A TIO N S • HOURS • PH O N E ORDERS
2000
Don't miss this
stunning new vision of
Verdi s masterpiece
2001
-think Shakespeare
meets Bladerunner-
With some of the
most powerful music
ever written for opera.
f
« 00P
Sung in Italian with English translations projected above the stage
November 4, 6, 8, 11, 2000
Keller Auditorium, SW 3rd & Clay • 7 :3 0 pm sharp!
T IC K E T S FR O M $25 • C A L L T O D A Y !
(503)241-1802
K Í or
(503) 790-ARTS
Tickets available at all tic h o tm m m tm r outlets,PCPA and Portland Opera
www.ticketmaster.com/oregon • www.portlandopera.org
C ro u p s of 10 or M ore SAVE up to 2 0 % • Call (503) 241 1407
Bill and Gail
McCormick
The Mark Spencer Hotel
S3
C-é,
A D elta Air L ines