Street roots
5
Nov. 7, 2014
SEX, fro m page 4
another. I’ve been surprised to find that
some people just naturally really want to be
in a monogamous relationship and that’s
what they’re interested in. But I think one
thing that confounds it is that we sort of
lump together dating and attraction and sex
and it’s like those things are really linked to
each other.
And so, even the people I’ve dated who
are super monogamous in terms of only
wanting to date one person will still find
multiple people attractive and can still
entertain the idea of, oh, I could sleep with
multiple people in my lifetime. So, I ¿ in k
humans are probably naturally inclined
toward non-monogamy in terms of sex.
Whether we’re geared towards non
monogamy in terms of relationships is, I
think, really difficult to prove or suss out
because we have such a history of our
specific culture here gearing us toward
monogamy as being the only option.
ideas that are out there, that are top-selling
dating books.
I think we’ve come a long way, but if you
look at the top 50 dating books on Amazon,
four of them are written by pickup artists,
like, here’s how you get a lady to like you by
playing this very traditional masculine role.
And numerous others are titles like, ignore
the guy, get the guy, that are also based on
really traditional gender roles and the idea
that men want sex and women don’t Those
are still best-selling books, and that blows
my mind. Looking at my friends and the
people I know and people in my generation,
it’s like, who’s still selling this and who’s
still buying it? So many people I know are
not doing that at all with their lives. And
there’s not a lot of media that reflects those
very different and real experiences.
S.H.: What do you think is the most
important piece of journalism that you’ve ever
written?
S.M.: Hopefully tlris book, I guess. I
would say this book for sure. Runner up
would be this comic I did about female
veterans who served in Guantanamo. What
was important about it to me is the person
who’s in the comic, who it’s about. It’s a
S.M.: Well, I was sort of most taken
nonfiction comic. This woman came to me
aback by interviewing Betty Dodson, the
and said, “I served in Guantanamo and I
older woman who lives in New York, who
have no idea how to deal with this
was the raunchiest interview probably. I
experience. A lot of shit happened to me
guess I'sort of thought of her as this old-
and I don’t know what to do.” And I said,
school icon, whereas in real life she was
“Ok, let’s try and make an art project out of
both very straightforward and not — she
didn’t have a practiced story to tell, she was i t ” And over the course of a year, we wound
up making it into a comic where I
just very off the cuff and very honest, and
interviewed her about her experience and
really focused on me and put me on the
made it into a story and she and Ltogether
spot She started asking me all these
interviewed somebody about their story and
questions about my life. I liked her stories
we made that into a piece.
about, when she was young and moved to
And I was nervous all along that she
New York and sort of looked at her
would not be down for going through with
relationships, and she was part of the
-sexualrevolution in thelate'6Qsearly-’7tisr~- S .b u t instead at the end, it definitely
changed her life. At the end she Was able to
She told this really vivid story about being
have a story she told. Rather than just a
at some 1960s swingin’ sex party and
women fixing their hair during sex, and that bunch of shit that happened to her, she had
a story. And then she wound up organizing
was just such a clear visual that got at so
a panel about Guantanamo here in Portland.
much stuff that she was talking about.
She is so nervous to speak in front of
Which is like, even in that context, people
people and could not have said anything
riot being focused on what women are
about it before and she ended up organizing
getting out of it.
a panel rib her own about this stuff. And she
went to New York to present at an art
S.H.: Do you think that things have come a
conference about i t That’s the time when
long way since the sexual revolution that she's
my skills were most clearly able to help
talking about, in terms of a focus on women’s
somebody else get through a really hard
pleasure?
spot and make something they wouldn’t
have been able to make otherwise...where
S.M.: In every aspect of every day,
I’ve been like, wow, because I was up for
there’s still stereotypes around female
doing this and I have the skills that J do,
sexuality that aren’t true and male sexuality
this person was able to really come to a
that aren’t true and don’t reflect people’s
place of more peace in her life and deal
actual experiences, and that’s what I’m
trying to do with this book — to say here are with some horrible stuff that she went
through. And that is basically the goal, I
some actual people talking honestlyabout
their lives and their sexuality. And hopefully think. So that one actually worked, and
that can counter some of the very pervasive that’s rare.
S.H.: In writing this book, you interviewed
a lot of people across the-eountry, some more
highprofile, some not. Whal was the best story
you heard in your interviews?
Transition
Projects
believes no one
should have to be
homeless.
T ra n s itio n ^
Projects»
650 NW Irving St
Portland, OR 97209
503.280 4700
www.tprojects.org
PHOTO BY JACQUES VON LUNEÑ
The increased mobility brought on by homelessness affects students academic and social
skills, says fulie Barbour, a teacher at Kelly Elementary School. “They wonder, ‘How long
am I going to be here?’” Barbour said.
NEW NORMAL, fro m page 3
But a family currently has to earn
nearly $37,000 per year to afford a two-
bedroom apartment in the Portland area,
according to an April report by the
county’s Department of Human Services.
A minimum-wage earner would have to
work 80 hours a week to make that kind of
money, the county report said.
Part of the solutiriri prescribed by the
state economist who prepared the jobs
report is to raise the overall education
level of Oregon workers. This doesn’t
necessarily mean getting a college degree,
but it does mean finishing highschool and
going through additional job training.
The report also includes Portland maps
with areas of job losses and high poverty
marked in color. Not surprisingly, the
darkest colors — the most poverty — are
found in the areas with high percentages .
of homeless students.
Not having a place to do homework and
being hungry, these students will have a
hard time rising to the ranks of high-wage
earners, which means they — and their
children — may one day wonder where
they’ll sleep that night
CENTRAL CITY
4
* AW w * * A
Hi
Ending, homelessness-and achieving self-sufficiency.
Now roasting & distributing craft coffee.
Available fo r purchase at:
Chuck's Produce
Food Front Cooperative Grocery
Green Zebra Grocery
New Seasons Market
Whole Foods Market
Soon availalbe for on-line purchase!
For office coffee service, call our friends a t
Per cassoCof fee, 503-460-3861
Z@ ilCENTRAI.CITY
W C O FFEE
www.centralcityconcern.org
facebook.com/CentralCityCoifee
B * P H r
Programs work
All of Oregon shares $480,000 of
federal money specifically earmarked for
homeless students, said Bolt the state
coordinator. The state’s 197 districts can
apply for 10 grants out of that money in a
highly competitive process.
Beaverton shares one $60,000 grant
with three other districts in Washington
County.
“It’s not much,” said Mentesana, the
district liaison. “But you know what? It
really helps.”
It sure helped Isabel. One day, a teacher
put her in touch with Mentesana. Years
later, Isabel started crying over the
memory of that day.
“It was the best feeling in the world
because I felt like someone cared,” Isabel
said.
She got the extra help and graduated,
even if it was a year late. She worked for a
couple years to save up some moneyand
this fall enrolled at Portland Community
College.
“My youth has been sucked up,” Isabel
said. “But it’s the best feeling that I’m
going to school now.”
PAID TRAINING
FOR PEOPLE WITH
N orthwest disabilit ,ES!
Beyond Limitations"
5312 HE 148th Ave.
Portland, OR 97230
REQUIREMENTS:
✓ Pass a drug test
✓ Must be at least 18
✓ Must be able to provide
documentation of a disability
✓ Fluency in English
/ Clean background check
QUESTIONS?
Please call (503)261-1266
or (800)874-7917
email: dcherry@phcnw.com