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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 17, 2002)
4 J u s t M a t • may 17. 2002 out ¿ 'M o b i l e mall Engine Service & RePair fntPkhp & Delivery Servicing All of Your un*Mmry«« Garden Equipment Needs C e rtifie d M echanic TUNE UP S P E C IA L $ 3 4 95 Includes change oil. new plug, clean filter, sharpen blade, adjust cart) clean undercarriage, lube & adjust controls Electric Mowers $29,95 Includes sharpen blade, clean undercarriage & motor housing, lube bearings or bushing 13 Years Local Exi B ritish C olum bia W ineries Discovery Drive Dour 7 nights from $733 Explore Okanagan Valley wineries. Visit Vancouver, Kelowna, Penticton, Osoyoos & Harrison Hot Springs.- Includes hotels, car, tours & more. Call for details. Subject to availability. LLOYD TRAVEL 1026 NE Multnomah 503 288-5145 - GLASS ROOTS Gray matters To t h e E d it o r : I would like to respond to the recent “Just Ask ing” debate about Kissing Jessica Stein [May 3]. Like many critics, a number of the respon dents seem to have misread the film. Kissing Jes sica Stein is not, as some would have it, a lesbian story. This point is quite clear in the interviews given by the two lead actresses, Heather Juerge- sen and Jennifer Wesfeldt, who also wrote the screenplay. Their interest was in telling a human story, a story that defied the homo-hetero binary so ingrained in our culture. From this perspective, Kissing Jessica Stein owes much to the philosophy of sexual libera tion, so central to gay liberation and lesbian feminism. These movements in turn drew on notions from the free love movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The great value of a story like Kissing Jessica Stein is that it shows how all people can he freed once they begin thinking outside the box. Jessi ca and all the other characters undergo a process of personal growth as a result of her foray into a queer relationship. In meeting her former boyfriend and boss, Jessica does not “return" to he dominated by a “traditional male” hut rather meets this man on an equal footing because both of them have grown immensely as a result of her relationship with a woman. The relationship challenged received notions of human love as only either gay or straight. In the final analysis, the film affirms the queer relationship as a positive: Per haps it is ultimately not for everyone, hut it can be a truly beautiful thing indeed. As a hi woman, I found this film to he sur prisingly refreshing. It affirms the existence and visibility of hi-curious and hi people. Finally, I would note that there arc in fact human stories like Jessica’s— individual lives that do defy the homo-hetero binary. STAINED CjLASS-MCJSAIC-STePPlNCj STO N ES M l-SrSy L A M B E R T A R T IS T • O W N E R • M elinda M arie J ette Mdvuaukie T6A C H B R Terms off endearment To t h e E d it o r : F 2 ^ 2 1 N E A lb e rta Portland, {503) O R .J 3 7 211. D <b O -3 ± 3 j- opert wed-sat 1 2 -& IVl'«»llill ( o l i - l i Itili l u l l lor I 111 < 1 111 n a I’a i t m - r 11 r it m i’ /persomiI mis D e i rlo/i itt/i o n l i m 1 f t r o t i l e s irst let me thank all of you for being such a great resource for the community. Many of us rely on you more than you know. The purpose of this letter is to make one sug gestion: Drop the term “gay rights” from your vocabulary. Use instead the terms “civil liber ties” and "civil rights.” When any media use “gay rights” to tag an issue, it causes an almost inescapable separation in the minds of most people between your com munity and theirs. It seems to me that the cen tral issue always comes down to equal protection under the law. The more you use the term “civil rights,” the more people will identify queer civil heroes with other civil heroes such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, et al. It will help stop the right wing’s use of rhetoric to control people’s minds and under mine freedom. Please don’t let the right choose your terms and definitions! Thank you for your godly efforts and kind attention. Si -recti i n /• e i i m l i i h i t e s L oren C unningham I h i t i n n st r nt e f s i e s Eugene ( o m lllllll t o s t a y f m u s c i i ( . oli si i o n s I h i l i n / s ( l o s s e s S e n si!ire o m l eonfiilentnil To |)r. K a rr n I il ir«* r /* (.’»(11) Ml 0-02011 R obert B all Good Government Initiative Chief Petitioner Moral off the story To t h e All Portland citizens deserve representation Sii/i/nn t a r o u /is ; Council. If passed, Measure 26-30 will make it so our councilors are elected by districts instead of citywide. It also will give us a city government that is more efficient and costs less. It’s written st) the combined number of politicians and staff stays the same while improving our representation. Why is this important? As Portland grows, we’re becoming more diverse. Different commu nities, ethnic backgrounds, neighborhoods and economic levels run throughout our city. Voting yes on Measure 26-30 will give each of our citizens a stronger voice at City Hall. It will require our councilors to live in and be elected from each area of the city. Their offices will have to be located in one of the neighbor hoods they represent— probably in a communi ty center or storefront so people can walk in and discuss a problem or get information within a short distance from their home. When electing councilors by smaller areas, they’ll look more like our entire city. They’ll also know more about the areas they directly serve— what our streets look like, the businesses, the traffic problems and the ways each of our differ ent citizens lives. It will he a whole new hall game for those wanting to run for City Council. Elections will cost less— making officials more accountable to us. Being in touch will matter most— not money. What’s wrong with our current system? The easiest answer is that we have outgrown it. Our charter requires every commissioner to have two jobs: 1) trying to represent every com munity and neighborhixxJ in the city and 2) directly managing several bureaus. They can’t give 100 percent to either job— and we deserve more. Measure 26-30 changes this by shifting the administrative duties to one branch— hut still under the watchful eye of the mayor. Now, complex bureaus and problems are managed by separate commissioners who often don’t have the experience in that field— leaving them at the mercy of the bureaucracy. When Mea sure 26-30 passes, experienced professionals will run our city departments— not untrained elect ed officials. Portland has changed, and our city govern ment needs to change with it. We can do a bet ter job of representing all of our citizens and using our resources. Our communities deserve it. Our neighbor hoods deserve it— and so do you. On behalf of the 21 neighborhood associa tion chairs, Rainbow Coalition, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Association for Portland Progress, Portland Chamber of Commerce, labor organizations (including American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 189, Service Employees International Union Local 49 and Portland Firefighters) and elected officials including Mayor Vera Katz, U .S. Rep. Darlene Hooley, state Sen. Kate Brown, former state Rep. George Eighmey and a host of others endorsing Measure 26-30,1 urge you to vote yes. It might be the first and last chance in your life to vote for representation. th e E d it o r : his month voters will decide whether all of our neighborhoods and diverse communi ties should be represented on the Portland City T I E d it o r : support Marc Abrams for Multnomah Coun ty Circuit Court judge Position 38 in Dis trict 4. As a vice chairman of the Portland Pub lic Schools board, he stood on the principle that the district should ban all discriminatory employers from recruiting students. Fred Stickel’s Oregonian vilified Marc during the past seven years for insisting that the board not exempt the military from this ban because it continues to discriminate against gay and les bian servicemembers. A good judge must resist external pressures and follow the.rule of law. Marc Abrams clearly has demonstrated he has the moral courage to perform the most diffi cult duties of a judge. Please take the time to mark your ballot accordingly. F rank D ixon Portland Weight and see To t h e E d it o r : hen I read Marty Davis’ editorial in the April 5 issue, I had to remind myself to take deep breaths [“Choose Life”]. I wholeheart edly support your right to control your own body and to express your opinion. That said, I am saddened and angered by your fatphobic assumptions about others. You assume that if you know a person’s weight, you know their health status; you assume that fat people are “killing themselves.” The fact is, diabetes, heart disease and other health problems sometimes are correlated with fatness, but they have not been proven conclu sively to be caused by fatness. What’s more, some studies say weight changes (up and down) cause health problems. With 90 percent to 95 percent of diets failing within two years, losing weight might be doubly dangerous, because you can bet on gaining it back. Fat people’s health also is affected by, dare I say it, fat oppression. I’m talking about harassment, denial of health insurance and job discrimination. And now we have that stupid tax deduction. Hey, if the Internal Revenue Service says fat people are diseased, who am I to argue? Really. So what’s a queer/bi/pansexual fat chick like me to do? Perhaps, like many fatsos, I’ll eat a healthy diet with lots of organic veggies and get regular exercise— all without losing my big, happy fat ass. I’ve done the research, and 1 know that’s the best way to be healthy. But you won’t know.my health status by looking. And even if you did, it would be none of your business. Let’s stop fanning the flames of fat hatred. Let’s treat our own and others’ bodies with love and respect. Let’s stop making judgments about people. Let’s stop assuming fatties are interested in hearing every random (fat or not) stranger/ friend/family member’s health advice. Let’s wear clothes that fit. Today. 1 hear sex is fabulous for the cardiovascular system. Or should I say... flabulous? W F rancie N evill Portland Courage off convictions To t h e I E d it o r : was reading with interest Marty Davis’ com mentary about obesity. I applaud her courage to point out that obesity is a health risk for many people. For many people their health is suffering because they are overweight. (By the way, I am overweight, so I know what I am talking about.) Accepting oneself is important, but admitting that there might be health problems and chang ing one’s behavior are equally important. Let’s take me, for example. My health is suf fering because I am overweight, so I am doing something about it. I watch what I eat, exercise more and gener ally listen to my body. I never will be a Barbie doll, but I can be a big woman with good health.
