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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (June 20, 2018)
edition CAREERS special Page 2 Established 1970 USPS 959 680 4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211 The Portland Observer welcomes freelance submissions. Man- uscripts and photographs should be clearly labeled and will be returned if accompanied by a self addressed envelope. All created design display ads become the sole property of the newspaper and cannot be used in other publications or personal usage without the written consent of the general manager, unless the client has purchased the composition of such ad. © 2008 THE PORTLAND OBSERVER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION IS PROHIB- ITED. The Portland Observer--Oregon’s Oldest Multicultural Publication--is a member of the National Newspaper Associa- tion--Founded in 1885, and The National Advertising Represen- tative Amalgamated Publishers, Inc, New York, NY, and The West Coast Black Publishers Association PO QR code P ublisher : e ditor : Mark Washington, Sr. Michael Leighton e xecutive d irector : Rakeem Washington A dvertising M AnAger : Leonard Latin Office Manager/Classifieds: Lucinda Baldwin Paul Neufeldt c reAtive d irector : r ePorter /W eb e ditor : Christa McIntyre P ublic r elAtions : Mark Washington Jr. r ePorter : Zachary Senn CALL 503-288-0033 FAX 503-288-0015 news@portlandobserver.com ads@portlandobserver.com subscription@portlandobserver.com Postmaster: Send address changes to Portland Observer , PO Box 3137 , Portland, OR 97208 A fashion icon’s remarkable story “You can be aristocratic with- out having been born into an aristocratic family,” remarks An- dre- Leon Talley, reflecting on his life in the new documentary, “The Gospel According to André.” Although he likely could not have articulated that perspective when he was a young child growing up in the Jim Crow South, one senses that he somehow knew it to be true from earliest childhood. Talley’s capacity to respond to the beat of his own heart’s drum comes through as he and a vari- ety of friends -- ranging from his former classmates and a teacher in Durham, N. C. to fashion greats like Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, and Anna Wintour -- reflect on the par- ticularity of his voice and on his remarkable life. The arc of Talley’s story could hardly be more dramatic and un- predictable. At the age of 9 or 10, he discovered Vogue magazine at the public library, and its world of style and elegance became his es- cape from the less idyllic world of o PinionAted J udge June 20, 2018 by D arleen o rtega photo Courtesy M agnolia p iCtures The life and career of André Leon Talley, a fashion icon who grew up reaching for his own expressions of style even when it got him bullied, is dramatically profiled in the new documentary, ‘The Gospel According to André. segregated North Carolina in the late 1950s. Inspired by the mag- azine pages that he would tack up on his bedroom walls, Talley reached for his own expressions of style even when it got him bullied. After attending segregated schools in the South, Talley won a scholarship to Brown Universi- ty for a graduate degree in French literature. Brown exposed him to an effete world more tolerant of his penchant for experimentation, and boosted his prospects enough to support his subsequent move to New York City in the early 1970s. There he began working as an aide to Andy Warhol and Diana Vree- land, the venerable former edi- tor-in-chief at Vogue, and made himself indispensable in the New York fashion scene. Eventually he became not only the right hand to Vogue editor Anna Wintour (who acknowledges that he knows more about fashion history than she The does) but a person whose opinion appears to matter to virtually ev- eryone. As improbable as his story seems, Talley sees the threads to his early life, and is that rare per- son whose early ties still bind. He speaks reverently and spe- cifically of his relationship with the grandmother who raised him, who kept a spotless house filled with the smells of her baking and who loved him unconditionally. While Talley has said that they did not speak of how he was bullied, he conveys how profoundly his grandmother’s acceptance affect- ed him. He also speaks ardently of the lessons of style he learned from the denizens of the black church in Durham that he attended while growing up, who often shed their daily uniforms as maids and servants to come dressed on Sun- day in carefully assembled suits, dresses, gloves, and elaborate hats. Talley’s mind and heart clear- ly were primed for beauty and artistic expression, and the ca- pacity to spot those things where they would otherwise be missed. The grandson of a sharecropper, he speaks, though only in pass- ing, of the impact of slavery and lynching on his childhood, and of painful manifestations of racism he has experienced in his profes- C ontinueD on p age 4 Week in Review First Transgender Captain Portland Police Chief Danielle Outlaw has pro- moted Lt. Steph- anie Lurenco to captain, the first transgender of- ficer to hold the position in the bu- reau’s history, cit- ing exceptional leadership skills. The Friday announcement came just prior to Saturday’s Pride Pa- rade, in which Outlaw and other police officers participated, and squelched unverified claims that Pride events would be disrupted by a right wing groups. er met with male immigrants being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Sheridan federal prison Saturday. The Democratic law- makers and the ACLU claim the 123 detainees were being held in violation of their rights under Trump’s “zero tolerance” immi- gration policy. Shot Dead at School Track A man who was found deceased from a gunshot wound Sunday morning on the track of the tem- porary site of Grant High School on Southeast 91st Avenue has been identified as 30-year-old Barak Rosen. There are no sus- pects in custody. The state med- Renamed Harvey Milk Street ical examiner determined Rosen Pride Week in the LGBTQ com- died of “homicidal violence” from munity saw the renaming of a multiple gunshot wounds. 13-block stretch of Southwest Civil Rights Champion Dies Stark Street in honor of civil A close confidante to the late Rev. rights pioneer Harvey Milk, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Doro- the Portland City Council voted thy Cotton, passed away last week unanimously Thursday to honor in her Ithaca, N.Y. retirement the late San Franciscan, who was home at the age of 88. Cotton was one of the first openly gay elected the only woman in King’s inner officials before being assassinated circle of aides, marched tireless- in 1978. ly in civil rights demonstrations, Immigration Detainees Visited typed King’s “I Have a Dream U.S. Sens. Jeff Merkely and speech,” and was a major player Ron Wyden, and Reps. Suzanne in securing Southern black people Bonamici and Earl Blumenau- the right to vote.