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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 1, 2003)
august 1. 2003 * BOOKS eatmgout eatingout eating out out Compassionate catty-ism In the Bible Belt or in gritty urbania, gay authors always find plenty of oddballs H ow l L earned to S nap by Kirk Read; Hill Street Press, 2003; $13 softcover irk Read’s 2001 mem oir Hou> I Learned to Snap, just released in paperback, fol lows his experi ences as a gay boy raised in Pat Robertson’s hometown. Presented as a series of riffs on themes (the ater, fashion, Kirk Read and Matt Bernstein pornography), Snap tells of a young man struggling to find acceptance in the Bible Belt. Yet Read doesn’t wallow in self-pity or despair. In fact, he is bold (premiering a story about coming out in high school while still in high school) and brash (demanding that he be allowed to take a boy to the prom). Along the way, he is inspired by an assort ment of oddballs and misfits, including Eve Hill, a black high schooler who taught him to say, “Ooh, child” and armed him with an attitude. The author also relates spending hours writing in his journal and scribing flowery love notes to the objects o f his ado lescent desire. Despite the difficul ties of name calling, attacks and alcohol abuse, Read survives. From truck stops to fixitball to cow tipping, this tale about coming of age in a nonurban environ ment is presented without embellishment. In fact, that’s the problem with the Fxxik. While the stories are tme and sometimes funny, just as often they are not very interesting, peter ing out or falling flat before their point has been made. It’s as if in being a memoirist Read forgot that he needed to be a storyteller as well. Giuple that with disconcerting jumps in the time frame— tine moment he is in high schtxil, the next in college and the next back in elementary schtxil— and readers are left with the feeling that this is a portrait of an artist in search of an editor. — Floyd Sklaver Lucy's P u l l in g T a f f y nyone ctincemed that mainstream political acceptance threatens to dilute queers cul turally should find welcome relief in Matt Bernstein Sycamore's fiction. Drawing from his experiences as a sex worker (he went by the handle “Mattilda"), he creates a world William S. Burroughs would find harrowing with char acters John Waters would find charming. Set against a grimy urban landscape, coked- A M -F appetizers & drinks for less $ K by Matt Bernstein Sycamore; Suspect Thoughts Press, 2003; $16.95 softcover Social Hour . 5 :0 0 - 6 :3 0 dinner Monday through Saturday 704- N W 21st & Irving 503.226.6126 Biuy R eep ’. s ! )L • ' . 1 » Coo I Hot Nights on the Pcrtio! I I R e s t a u r a n t <& B ar Sycamore on one of their many tea rtxim readings g l Alba osteria SC F N O T EC A up prostitutes in drag and rent boys embrace A Northern Italian Restaurant & Bar addiction, fight against abusive parents and a I far more hostile world, turn tricks with pathetic D in n e r : T uesday t o S unday clients and turn to each other for something Bring this ad in for $5 off I that concepts of family and friendship do not serving from 5 :3^ [ I a purchase of $20 or more I adequately explain. 6 4 4 ° SW Capitol Highway (in Hillsdalr) Sycamore renders their stmggles with a 2 8 0 8 N E M L K J r . Blvd Portland, O R 9 7 2 3 9 terse, plain prose that makes possible his preci 503-977-3045 sion with dialect and detail. And what detail! w w w .b i ll y r e e d s . c o m Vomit, piss, hkxxl, jissom, grease; coke, booze, pills; anorexia, bulimia, gluttony; Chanel, _ Fendi, Hermes; HIV. The surplus of the grotesque and the crass is meted out with a tense, angry energy yet in a voice that manages to be catty, contemptuous and compassionate all at once. For all the filth and degradation, this voice "H u humanizes its narrator and turns moments of pain, fury and sorrow into a bleak poetry: “When JoAnne died, there was cardboard in my ears, even though I don’t know what that means. W hen you leave r cardboard out in the rain, it rots, collapses but does n’t disintegrate. Maybe I’m writing about my ears because that’s how 1 120 N W Third Avenue, Portland, OR 97209 • (503) 224-3285 found out, Laurie called Parking Validated Smart Park Davis & Front to say Jo Anne’s dead, and www.hobos.citysearch.com I wanted cardboard in my ears, only it rots, col lapses bur doesn’t quire disintegrate." Memory and the need to survive compete for the narrator’s attention, breaking conscious ness into moments of the immediate and of remembered trauma. The salve is humor, of course, not derived from scatology (though t there is plenty of that) but from the trauma Famous for itself— finding within the pain elements of the Specialty Omelettes absurd that the narrator can extract and release. Visit us at For all the gauzy pink, flaming red and gold Serving Breakfast All Day w w w .starkys.co m en yellow that color Sycamore’s world, he is & Lunch definitely singing the blues. 5 0 3 -4 9 3 -8 1 2 7 r\ u u ~ Casual Dining ~ Lounge ~ Game Room Open 4:00 Daily u ~ ~ ~ ~ Sully’s n, — K evin M oore JH K irk R ead and M att B ernstein S ycamore join forces to read (apparently quite theatrically) from then respective works 7:30 p.m. Aug. 13 at Twenty'Third Avenue Books, 1015 N.W . 23rd A v e., and 7 p.m. Aug. 18 at Corvallis' Grass Roots Bookstore, 227 S.W. Second St. v /c t i V, Wed— Sun 8am— 2pm in Downtown Milwaukie 2 0 3 5 SE Jefferson St 5 0 3 .7 8 6 .0 2 8 5 Restaurant & Lounge 503*230.7980 2913 SE Stark 15% OFF Dinner Entrees between 5:30 & 7pm every day! \
