DR. DARIN J. WARD
BY SALLY SHEKLOW
HEALTH
CENTERED
DENTISTRY
By taking a holistic approach
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We look at the whole picture,
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No Underpants
Road to revelation is some-
times paved with speculums.
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DR. DARIN J. WARD, DDS PC
HEALTH CENTERED DENTISTRY
300 COUNTRY CLUB RD., STE. 290
EUGENE, OR 97401 • (541) 686-2441
grand
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1016 willamette
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541-741-7820
HOT TIME
COOL COURSES
WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES AT UO SUMMER 2003
FOUR-WEEK, FOUR-CREDIT COURSES
WGS 399 Feminist Science Fiction: Monsters, Cyborgs, and Women (June 23-July 18)
WGS 410/510 Chick Flicks: Women as Producers and Consumers of Cinema
(July 21-August 15)
ONE-CREDIT WEEKEND WORKSHOPS
WGS 408/508 Born in the U.S.A.: Midwifery and the Politics of Childbirth (June 27-28)
WGS 408/508 Latina Popular Icons (July 11-12)
WGS 408/508 Queer Media (July 18-19)
WGS 408/508 Body Image and Body Casting (July 25-26)
WGS 408/508 Transgender Issues: The Next Wave (August 1-2)
WGS 408/508 Feminism, Activism and the Environment (August 8-9)
More information at wst@oregon.uoregon.edu or 346-5529
8 JUNE 19, 2003
W
e learn from the past, but dykes my age have
all hit mental-pause. We forget where our keys
are, our own phone numbers and why we just
walked into this room. But dimes-to-dental dams we all re-
member coming out. I’d wager that every single
lesbian/gay/bi/trans/intersex/queer/two-spirit person recalls that
defining moment when we first recognized ourselves and alerted the media — or at
least our best friends.
Thanks to increased media visibility (all bow to Ellen!) and the coming out trend of
relatives, neighbors and sports heroes, our kith and kin discover their sexual orienta-
tion and burst out of the closet quicker and more gracefully than ever before. In their
quest to know their roots, new homos and homettes look to their elders, those of us
the National Organization for Women once labeled “The Lavender Menace.”
oung queers want a sense of history and perspective from the folks who lived
through Anita Bryant’s campaign to Save Our Children. The orange juice queen’s
heinous PR efforts taught us nothing if not that we’re the ones who have to save
the children (and that a Miss America tiara fits fine on an empty head.) That’s why we
reach out to the next generation — and I’m not just talking about the miniature softball
glove you’re bringing to that dyke baby shower. The new crop of teens and young adults
coming to terms with who they are needs cross-generational allies.
It’s not like homophobia got old and died. No matter how out and proud gay kids
might be, their families still kick them out, schoolmates beat them up, and teachers
don’t get it. “That’s so gay” is still the big insult on campus. High school and college
classes need lesbian/gay/bi/trans/intersex/queer/two-spirit guest panels now more
than ever.
Y
W
hen I was a ’70s college student, our women’s health class always brought
in guest speakers. One week a woman came to talk about self-help. She
lifted her skirt (hairy legs and no underpants!), inserted a speculum and
showed us her cervix. That was some opening act, so to speak.
The next week a woman and two men came and talked about what it was like to be
gay. That’s the first lesbian-I-knew-was-a-lesbian I ever saw, unless you count Miss
Hathaway, who everybody suspects would have been happier skinny-dipping in the
cee-ment pond with Granny than pining over Jethro.
That experience was a major turning point in my life — not that the panelists were
recruiting. An honest-to-goodness lesbian who was fine with her identity inspired me
to explore that aspect of myself. Maybe it would be OK for me to be one.
ow I’m a college instructor, which I think is hysterical because I feel like I still
am the Youth of America. But it’s my turn to invite guests to tell their stories to
the classes I teach. I am amazed at how many of my students are as ill-in-
formed as I was back before I took that fateful cervix- and sexuality-revealing class.
That is, until I bring the L/G/B/T/I/Q/T-S panel in.
Last week my guest panel comprised four bright-eyed high schoolers, all gelled,
pierced and blasted (their jeans, not their brain cells). These articulate young people
talked about what it’s like to be young and queer, what a big deal it is to be visible and
speak out in their schools, and how hard it can be to come out, even — or especially —
these days. The panelists even got my students to question themselves, to wonder
whether they might be “that way,” too — shock and awe.
My students were cool, though. They showed respect and didn’t freak out, even if
they’d previously considered sitting in a room with a bunch of queers equivalent to
rolling in “Fear Factor” maggots. They turned out to be so open-minded that next
term my classroom guest just might be a hairy-legged, speculum wielding woman
with no underpants
Now — where are my keys?
N
Sally Sheklow teaches classes on LGBTIQT-S Issues at PSU, and creative writing at LCC’s Downtown Eugene
center. To enroll in her summer term writing classes, contact the continuing education program at www.lanecc.edu
Oregon Family Dental, PC
Welcomes
Stephanie Coursey, RDH
Now accepting new hygiene patients
“Providing quality care
with a gentle touch.”
344-7900 • 11th & Chamers • Eugene