Page 12
August 21, 2019
Black Voices Ring
with Clarity, Integrity
C ontinueD From p age 2
tions, and with flashbacks of G.
K. and her partner, Natalie, back
in the mid-1960s, when G. K.’s
writing was taking off. In a very
different time from now, these
two women love each other but
both social pressure and the lure
of artistic inspiration drive them
apart.
It’s a play about black people
apart from the white gaze; they
suffer but the play is not about
black suffering. It’s about love,
and intimacy, and mistakes, and
artistic inspiration, and mistakes
one makes and seeds one plants
in one’s youth that bear fruit you
may never see. It’s also about
how to catch creation -- How
does one become a parent? Who
creates a child, and how do they
do it? What inspires creativity?
Why does it feel so precious? Can
creation and intimacy co-exist?
What makes one an artist?
Anderson’s play savors these
questions without answering
them. It gives us the opportuni-
ty to watch these six characters
struggle with these questions,
which is itself something to sa-
vor--because when do we get to
see black people with agency
struggle with meaning on stage?
Not often enough--and Ander-
son’s play prioritizes the voices
of black queer women. G. K., an
invented character, stands in for
a host of black women writers
(Audre Lorde, Toni Morrison,
Maya Angelou, Pat Parker, So-
nia Sanchez, Nikki Giovanni,
and so many more) who fought
to be heard and to avoid era-
sure, and whose voices ring with
clarity borne of struggle. In this
play, black queer women lead
the way for six people fighting
to speak and love and live with
integrity. With a uniformly ex-
cellent cast and as directed by
Nataki Garrett, the new artistic
director of the Oregon Shake-
speare Festival, this production
is especially worth making the
trip to Ashland before it closes
in October.
Darleen Ortega is a judge
on the Oregon Court of Appeals
and the first woman of color to
serve in that capacity. Her mov-
ie review column Opinionated
Judge appears regularly in The
Portland Observer. Find her
movie blog at opinionatedjudge.
blogspot.com.
C annon ’ s r ib e xpress
We have moved to:
3625 NE MLK Jr Blvd, Portland OR
photo by
In the tradition of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, people have been making these origami
Soul Boxes as a way to remember victims of gun violence. The Soul Box Project was
started by a Portland artist and a current display is now showing at Milwaukie City
Hall through the month of August.
Taking Aim at Gun Violence
Origami boxes
represent the
toll of lives lost
The Soul Box Project is a
national community art proj-
ect created by a Portland stu-
dio artist to raise the aware-
ness to the epidemic of gun
violence. In the tradition of
the AIDS Memorial Quilt,
the project is collecting one
handmade origami box for
every person killed or injured
by gunfire in the US since
2014.
Displayed in public spac-
es to draw attention to the
number of people shot in gun
violence, accidents, defense
and suicides, the Soul Box
Project has collected more
than 50,000 3-x3-inch ori-
gami boxes from across the
country to date. Each box
represents one life, one soul
gunned down.
Leslie Lee, founder of the
Soul Box Project, believes
that when people come face
to face with thousands and
thousands of boxes repre-
senting victims, they’ll un-
derstand the enormity of the
Call to Order: 503-288-3836
Cannon’s, tasty food and friendly
neighborhood atmosphere.
Open (hours)
Mon-Sat: 11am-7pm
Sunday:
11am- 6pm
n athan v. h olDen
For your light bulbs & parts
to repair or make fixtures
Web: www.sunlanlighting.com
E-mail: kay@sunlanlighting.com
3901 N. Mississippi Ave.
Portland, OR 97227
503.281.0453
Fax 503.281.3408
gunfire epidemic and be in-
spired to take action, from
enrolling in gun handling
classes to securing firearms,
to working towards gun-
sense legislation.
Currently, the public is in-
vited to take a look at a Soul
Box exhibit now showing
through the month of Au-
gust at Milwaukie City Hall,
10722 S.E. Main St. Soul
Box project volunteers have
spent the summer doing out-
reach and area residents have
created hundreds of boxes
for the project. Earlier this
year, a soul box display was
presented in northeast Port-
land.
The goal is to take at least
200,000 Soul Boxes to the
National Mall in Washing-
ton, D.C. next year, during
the election year 2020.
“Soul Boxes can be made
for any person killed or in-
jured by gunfire. It can be
healing for anyone experi-
encing this loss. No matter
how or why a person is shot,
people grieve.” says Lee.
“The collective spirit of peo-
ple coming together to take
action, to remember and to
heal continues to inspire me.”