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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 2004)
January eatingout edited by Tracie O ’Keefe and Katrina Fox; Jossey-Bass, 2003; $17.95 softcover s the awareness and vis ibility of those whosq I gender identity and pre sentation vary from the hegemonic system has increased throughout the past decade, so has the ten dency to seek an explana tion for this variance. Find ing the Real Me is a collec tion of essays that speak to the human experience of sex and gender queer lives. Rather than attempting to analyze or pathologize these personal narratives, editors Tracie O ’Keefe and Katrina Fox allow the essays to stand on their own merits as individ ual truths. By removing frameworks of analysis and inviting the reader to engage without judg ment, the rich truth and beauty of each story shines powerfully through. It is also refreshing to see a collection on sex and gender that includes views and cul tural perspectives outside the Western para digm. T h e broad representation o f identities blended with international and intercultural perspectives contributes to the understand ing of individual and social factors on iden tity formation. T h e foreword by Stephen W h ittle provides an excellent historical context through which to understand the ever- changing social roles of the sex and gender system. — Eric Plemons B lood B r o th er s by Michael Schiefelbein; Alyson Publications, 2002; $13.95 softcover ertain pieces of popular culture are so lurid, so over the top, they work beautifully; more is more in the sex- and violence- drenched films of Brian De Palma or the wonderfully tasteless music of The Cramps, for instance. C v * '. , . , .y. Michael Schiefelbein’s sec ond novel (the first was Vampire Vote) should qualify as just that sort of accom plished trashiness. T he overcomplicated, excessive (what else?) story is about a sort of homme fatale— a Spanish man dash ingly named Juan Ramon, who has gone to great lengths to become a priest for the sole purpose o f get ting to Bernardo, a young monk aspiring to the priest hood. Bernardo is the son of the man who engineered the vicious murder of Ram on’s parents; the priest has a vague plan to kill or otherwise ruin the only son of the man who killed them. O nce he does track Bernardo down, how ever, Ramon is distracted from his purely revenge-calibrated machinations by the fact that the targeted offspring is hot. T he feeling is mutual. They begin, of course, a torrid affair. Will the crazy, wild sex and their growing emotional attachment be the downfall of Ramon’s ruth less scheme and Bernardo’s carefully cultivated piety? Unfortunately, this isn’t as fun as it sounds. Schiefelbein’s eroticism is hilariously over wrought and fairly sexy, but he fails to embrace the naughty humor. The tone ranges from depressive to cranky, with extraneous theology and architecture lessons as well as fake blasphe my that fails to be truly, enter tainingly offensive and that is more than a little self-serious, as if readers will be picking up Blood Brothers (which features pom star Colton Ford in its steamy cover photo) based on educational value. There are tiny glimmers of what could have been, but most is more along the lines of grim, hiring Cinemax soft core. The subject matter is base, the premise simplistic; this could’ve been a compli ment had Schiefelbein stayed true to that spirit. He didn’t, and the pages don’t turn— they drag. — Christopher M cQuain jH eatingout TREAT YOURSELF! P ick U p ‘ T lS THE SEASON TO ENJOY YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. P ic k u p a p a r t y OR LET US h elp you plan o n e , THEN RELAX. 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