Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 16, 2013)
Page 16 ^Jortlanb (Obstruer Re-imagining c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 9 justify behaving as Cody's family does. Here it is a will written before Joey was part of Cody's family that provides Cody's sister with reasons to enforce what she asserts were Cody's wishes, ignoring other better evidence of what he would have wanted. The film is full of tiny examples of how being part of a dominant culture allows one the prerogative to use law and custom to bolster norms that may well contradict the purpose of those very laws and cus toms. One can feel angry at Cody’s family members and others in the film - I certainly did - but the film does not turn them into cartoon villains. In a time of pain and confusion, they merely reach for the tools at their disposal to bring order to chaos, and the power they have gives them the means to justify actions they would not otherwise have taken. As a result, Joey's dilemma seems all that much more unsolvable. The groundwork laid in the film’s early scenes establishes for us that separating Joey and Chip is a tragedy, but in this time and place it seems a truly unsolvable one. Cody's never-updated will - an apt metaphor - has left his sister in charge of his property and his son, so she now wields the power to take away everything that has meant home and family to Joey. Joey's truth gives him no standing to assert it, and O c to b e r 16, 2013 a succession of lawyers tell him he has no case. And here is where the suspense comes in. After months of banging on closed doors, Joey receives an offer of help from a most-unlikely source: a retired judge who seems a card-carrying member of the good-ole-boys' club. Yet this good man provides an extremely rare example of a person who puts the law in a proper perspective, who looks beyond the surface to its intended purpose, and imagines how to use the law to move beyond what currently seems possible to what is just and true. It's the most inspiring legal story I’ve seen since "To Kill a Mockingbird." I wish I could find a way to make this film required viewing for anyone who dares to opine about gay marriage. More effectively than any argument, Wang's inspired work invites you spend some time sitting with the experience of an out sider and contemplating what is really true about his experience. It invites you to think more deeply about the meaning of family. And particularly if you are a lawyer or judge, it challenges you to look beyond our collective failures of imagination to where the law might also point the way. It's hard for me to imagine a better investment of three hours. he ew lub Darleen Ortega is a judge on the Oregon Court o f Appeals and the first woman o f color to serve 11140 SE Powell Blvd in that capacity. Her movie review column Opin Live Music every weekend, good R&B, Blues and Gospel. ionated Judge appears regularly in The Portland Observer. You can fin d her movie blog at Gospel every Sunday 3:00pm until 7: pm opinionatedjudge.blogspot. com. The Kirk Green Jam, every Sunday 8:00pm until 1:00am T N C R IB S Everyone is Invited October 6 8 1 Thomas Edison Shows 1st Motion Picture In 1889. American Library Association Founded(1876) 1 Î Margaret Thatcher bom in 1925. First Aerial Photo in US Taken in 1860. Molly Pitcher bom, 1754 World Habitat Day Child Health Day Alice Dalgliesh bom, 1893 * Edward Ormondroyd bom, 1925 J. Frank Duryea bom in 1869 The Great Chicago Fire started (1871) yW Columbus Day Thanksgiving Day in Canada Lois Lenski bom, 1893 Mother-in-Law's Day Theodore Roosevelt bom in 1858. Guggenheim Museum Opens (1959) Plush Animal Lover's Day Bill Gates bom, 1955 Statue of Liberty dedicated in 1886. Leonard Kessler bom, 1921 National Poetry Day (England) James Marshall bom, 1942 Henry Cavendish bom in England in 12L Ï Eid al-Adha (Muslim Holiday, 16th in North America) National Grouch Day ' ' ' Sir James Chadwick (Discoverer of the Neutron} bom, 1891 Crockett Johnson bom, 1906 w First Two-Way Telephone Conver sation in 1876 Leif Ericson Day Moldy Cheese Day The Count's Birthday (Sesame Street Character) ■ Dictionary Day Noah Webster bom, 1758 World Food Day Edward Ardizzone bom, 1900 ■ 2 2 -J 7 Black Poetry Day San Francisco Earthquake (1989) ' National Nut Day iPod First Revealed (2001) Red Ribbon Week (Oct 23-31) Matjorie Flack bom, 1897 Stock Market Crash - 1929(1929) John Adams bom in 1735. Emily Post (author) bom, 1873 2 2013 € L Eleanor Roosevelt bom, 1884 First Steam-Powered Ferryboat 'Juliana' began operations in 1811. O Halloween Juliette Gordon Low Bom in 1860, she started Girl Scouting in the United States in 1912. • 1 8 Mason-Dixon Line Established(1767) Puerto Rico Became U.S. Colony In 1898. Star Spangled Banner First Sung In 1814. Thomas Edison Demonstrated Electric Light Successfully in 1879. 3 Pablo Picasso Spain in 1881. C H A M R fH 1 2 Farmer's Day DiadelaRaza (Mexico) 4 Bruno Munaribom, 1907 Betty Lou's Birthday (Sesame Street Character) National Bologna Day United Nations Day ' Hillary Rodham Clinton bom, 1947. Red Cross Organized In Geneva, 1863. Erie Canal Opened (1825) cc Of COMMERCE Z"*