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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (March 5, 2004)
BOOKS .............¥ ............. •Darted XVTrodut turns “fruenti the 9th Annual fa JTcmmc +<pfus cinternationaf pageant Labor of love Groundbreaking author ushers the Progressive E ra into Portland by K a kln ‘Portland JRggionai L a Temine +Pius K u n -j uch has changed in the 30 years that Elana Dykewomon (bom Elana Nach man) has been publishing. For one, “there weren’t many lesbian writers,” she says. Her first book, 1974’s Riverfinger Women , was con sidered to he revolution ary— not because of its les bian characters and sexual violence, hut because it had a happy ending. At that • : time, Dykewomon says, “characters were punished for being lesbians. Now, it’s taken for granted that there is lesbian fiction.” Pioneer of lesbian She notes that queer women are writing romances, mysteries, pulp fiction. “There is no longer a focus on coming-out stories,” she notes. Never one to shy away from difficult topics, Dykewomon addresses anti-Semitism, loss and women’s labor laws in the Lambda Award-winning Beyond the Pale, originally published in 1997 and reprinted last year. She reads from the popular novel, as well as her 2003 book of short stories, Moon Creek Road, March 11 and 12 in Portland. With regard to Jewish history, popular culture tends to focus on the Holocaust, but Beyond the Pale details the pogroms in Russia that displaced hundreds of Jews and fueled an exodus to the United States. One message that Dykewomon hopes to convey is that “the Holocaust didn’t come out of nowhere. There is a whole history of anti-Semitism throughout Europe and Russia.” Events in the book are triggered by a 1903 pogrom in the Russian town of Kishinev. A total of 49 Jews were killed, hundreds were injured, and thousands of people were dis placed. “At the time, the reaction to what hap pened at Kishinev was similar to the reaction to Matthew Shepard," Dykewomon explains. “People rallied around it.” The writer, who makes her home in O ak land, Calif., fears a rise in anti-Semitism as a kind of backlash to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. “ It’s generally scarier to he a Jew than a lesbian.” M B “Two Crowns to Be Awarded eyond the Pale, a wonderfully rich and com plex novel, tells the story of Gutke Gurvich, a midwife with one eye brown, the other gold, and one of her deliveries, Chava and La fem Magnifique +P(us IntemationaC &mÈÈÈ& ;.,m fiction Elana Dykewomon visits Portland on March 11 and 12 Meyer. After Chava’s birth, Gutke falls in love with Dovida, who dresses in men’s clothing and goes by Dovid for the sake of convenience. C hava, daughter o f a rabbi, struggles to find her place in society, especially after her parents are killed in Kishinev. She eventual ly moves to the United States with her aunt, uncle and cousin Rose. Gutke and C hava finally meet again in New York City, where both become involved in the union and suffrage movements. Writing and researching Beyond the Pale has given — Dykewomon a sense of _____________ depth, she says, “to have that long line of women who have worked and struggled to change the world. To work for social justice is not something that you do just in your teens as a rebellious stage. It’s a lifelong project.” Before writing the book, Dykewomon had “ lived with the idea that the current moment was evolutionarily the most advanced time.” But research proved that women of Beyond the Pale’s “Progressive Era" had taken many of the actions that characterized the women’s move ment of the ’60s and 70s. They formed multi ethnic, cross-class communities but spent more time debating issues. “Definitely women activists of the Progressive Era inspired most of the New Deal labor legislation,” Dykewomon says, noting that Eleanor Roosevelt was part of the Women’s Trade Union League. “Labor conditions have mostly improved in general,” Dykewomon remarks, but even in Oakland, there are “sweatshops with Asian immigrants, mostly women, who are afraid to speak up. We don’t have a strong grassroots labor organization.” Another difference between this tum-of-the- century and the last, she learned, was the spontaneity of strikes, which were often met with violent retaliation, and the willingness to take a stand. “People had a dif ferent frame of mind about Elana Dykewomon what an individual could do to effect change. Now, with the rise of mass culture, big money politics, third party squashing....” But Dykewomon, like so many, has hope. In the preface of Beyond the Pale’s 2003 edition she writes: “At the beginning of the 21st cen tury, as at the beginning of the 20th, millions around the world are putting their ideals into action. And women continue to form the word ‘peace’ in our mouths like a kiss. Those kisses might still change our destiny.” J H 200J La femme Magnifique +“flus International Tiffany Crystal Salt L alf City. VfT Sunday, M “ arch 14, 2004 “Door 7pm ~ ‘Pageant 8pm -$10 Dorcelle XV Showplcice eo 8 NW Third Avenue Portland, OR 91209 Ph: 503 222 5338 Fx: 503 ¿.48 6771 em ail: darcellexvuoaol.com www.darcellexv.com "Jo work for social justice is not something that you do just in your teens as a rebellious stage. It's a lifelong project. E lana D ykewomon reads 7:30 p.m. March 11 at Annie Bloom’s Books, 7834 S.W. Capitol Highway, and 7 p.m. March 12 at In Other Words, 3734 S.E . Hawthorne Blvd. The In Other Words reading is ASL interpreted. A Judged tPageant to Cronm the Most (giamo rotes + i Pius Size Jemaie Impersonator in fPortiand and The ‘Entire ‘Worid! EVERY BOOK OF GAY EROTICA ALWAYS IN STOCK! <® > Champion. 60s photog talked straight men into dropping trou. Here’s the shocking pix! $38. Bad Boys. Torrid true stories of group sex. Way to double (or triple) your pleasure! $15. GddJDads Bedtime Tales Vol. 4. More daddy/boy stories from the folks at Handjobs. $20. ( DOWNTOWN (a i)2“ SW OAK 226-SUI KAREN K ud EJ is a Portland free-lance writer and program associate at Literary Arts. REVIEW Q u e e n s in t h e K in g d o m : T h e U l t im a t e G a y a n d L e s b ia n G u id e t o t h e D is n e y T h e m e P a r k s by Jeffrey Epstein and Eddie Shapiro; Alyson Publications, 2003; $14.95 softcover arch is here! Time to plan your summer vacation. You’ve always wanted to go to Disney World, you say.7 Have we got a book for you! Jeffrey Epstein and Eddie Shapiro’s gay guide to all of the M Disney theme empires (including the newest, Disney’s California Adven ture Park) answers the most perti nent questions: Where can I hold hands or grab a kiss without being stared at.7 Where are the bathhouses in Orlando.7 And, unlike the Disney-produced official guides (where everything is made to sound fabulous), the caustic pair are willing to tell it like it is using a five-star rating system that ranges from “sucky” to “fantabulous." They call Queens m the Kingdom "the Patsy and Edina of guidebooks." Witty descriptions abound for every attraction, restaurant and shop in the enormous Disney uni verse, including this gem about Disneyland’s Chip ’n’ Dale Tree- house: “There’s nothing gayer ...than the neat...tastefully decorated treehouse where these two...share their lives together. All they need now is a hot tub.” The authors have also included “Fairy Facts” about each ride, which serve to simultaneously delight and enlighten the savvy queer traveler. — Floyd Sklaver J H Corner o f finncty H/vti <¥ A tE doth 3 1 0 6 N E 6 4 th • Portland, O R 9 7 2 1 3
