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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (May 29, 2009)
OREGON S GAY/LESBIAN/BI/TRANS NEWSMAGAZINE MAY 29 2009 _57J< BOOKS Portland Queer A New Anthology Tells Tales of the Rose City by Gary Morris Is Portland “a modern-day land of Les bos”? Can it “swallow you whole”? Does the typical Rose City gay girl “succumb to brief awkward moments of small talk before scurrying off to her room to smoke pot and watch movies with her cat”? These are some of the wildly divergent views of local queer life found in an intriguing new anthology, Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City. Assembled by noted author and writing teacher Ariel Gore, Portland Queer is both concrete — with stories set in recognizable local haunts inhabited by types we’ve all seen or interacted with — and elusive. Are these characters and their adventures real? Are they fictional? Does it even matter? Gore took the surprising step of not specifying that the stories be true, asking only for “literary first person narratives by queer writers about queer characters in Portland, Oregon.” Thus Donal Mosher’s “Will the Circle Be Un broken,” a series of beautifully crafted poetic vignettes, appears beside Christa Orth’s “Not Following the Rules,” a compelling history of several local political battles and the heroes who fought them. The cast includes a pregnant man, several Vino. Pasta. Vino. Repeat. riot grrrls, Catholic school babydykes, and a gay boy pining for a hunky straight co-worker. Landmarks from the Burnside Bridge to Voo doo Doughnuts form the backdrop, along with Portland’s trademark “oyster-colored skies.” But the stories reach far beyond the region to explore universal themes of love and longing, coming out and compromising. Contribu tors include Tom Spanbauer, Sarah Dougher, Kathleen Bryson,/;«/ Out alumni Marc Acito and Tony Longshanks LeTigre and 17 others. Gore says the book - published by Port land’s Lit Star Press, printed at Eberhardt, and distributed by Microcosm Publishing - was a homegrown affair start to finish. In the DIY style that typifies contemporary alternative publishing, as well as Gore’s own history as the creator of the zine Hip Mama, she used every possible resource: the Internet, /wr/ Out, friend networks. She expected that Portland’s “small-town queer literary scene” would mean she’d know most of the authors, but that was not the case. “I was psyched and honored when I got submissions from a lot of different crowds,” she says. What of the genre mashup? “I love it!” says Gore. “There are no fictions. And the truth is relative. Sometimes you have to ignore the facts to tell the truth. And vice versa. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the difference between truth and fiction. It was so ref reshing with this book to set aside that concern. I asked writers Ariel Gore expected that QUFER Portland s "small-town queer literary scene would mean she d know most of the authors who offered submissions for Portland Queer, but was "psyched and honored when I got submissions from a lot of different crowds." to change the names of the guilty if the stories were true. Other than that, what does it mat ter, really? If it’s not a good story, I don’t care if it ‘really happened.m As for Gore’s own feelings about Port land, she says she finds it both homophobic and accepting. “In my experience, Portland is amazingly and beautifully queer-friendly, but in some circles it has grown that way very quickly, so there is still some pretending go ing on — a lot of times folks want to be queer friendly or accepting or tolerant or whatever you want to call it, but they’re still funda mentally uncomfortable, and that transition can take time. That said, a lot of people are just socially awkward, and it’s important not to confuse that with anything else. I haven’t experienced in-your-face homophobia any more than I’ve experienced in-your-face Simple Italian Food In the Beaverton Round 503.646.6464 mingowest.com Dexter Flowers, Michael Sage Ricci and Colleen Siviter in a free reading from Portland Queer at Broadway Books, 1714 NE Broadway, on Monday, June 8, at 7 p. m. Visit portlandqueer, com for additional readings and information. Steaks in lawn Since 1044! Steakhouse Supper Specials MiNGO The stories in the anthology o many of the complexities of » n. I love that there are stories town queers who experienced \o coming-out drama. And I real, too, when 1 read a story ot of shaming." ers “United We Stand,” this yv<u » i ikk nitme: “Well, divided we stand, too," she says. “We stand. And we can show some goddamn solidarity. But we’re all super different, too. And we all communicate our solidarity in different ways. I love that Port land is real and righteous and prickly. Portland has taught me to demand more from my com munity — and I love that. But we can also learn to tell the difference between our intu ition and our paranoia. There is some serious phobic nonsense out there. But don’t forget: t Sometimes when people look at us cross-eyed, it’s Ariel just because they’re with cross-eyed. ” Gore appears Tom Spanbauer, Portland’s Original Wing Jo'1«1 R ing S ide Bcsf I yny or racism or classism >ut I’ve seen plenty of weird r stickers and of course some ihobic propositions have gone Three Course Menus D owntown G lendoveer >35“ - S E $2500 S erved A ll vening un . - T hurs . F ri . & SAT. before 5:45pm or after 9:00 pm S erved A ll E vening S even N ights 4 W eek Not valid with other promotions. DOWNTOWN GLENDOVEER N.W. 22nd &W. Burnside • 503-223-1513 140th & N.E. Glisan . 503-255-0750 * WINGS * SALADS • * VEGETARIAN ITEMS * &MORE! 1708 E. Burnside Ave. $03-230-9464 4225 N. 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