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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2011)
arts & entertainment Teen Overcomes Teasing in Comedy by kam Williams, Special to The Skanner News I n some ways, 14 year-old Spork (Savannah Stehlin) is your typical adolescent trying to negotiate her way through those awkward years. Her being frizzy- haired, overweight and hailing from the wrong side of the tracks makes her easy prey for CherryLane Middle School’s exclusive clique of popular blondes led by the insufferable Betsy Byotch (Rachel G. Fox). But Spork has considerable additional burdens to bear, being an orphan whose mother died after her father aban- doned the family. Since then, she’s been raised in a trail- er park by her big brother, Spit (Rodney Eastman). He’s the one who came up with her sibilant nickname inspired by that infernal hybrid of a spoon and a fork, due to the fact that she has both male and female sex organs. Spit’s publicly outing his sister as a hermaphrodite has only added to her sense of social isolation, as her tor- mentors have taken to referring to her as everything from “Fagatron” to a “He-She.” Consequently, Spork now hangs with the African-American crowd, basically because of the support of her best friend, Tootsie Roll (Sydney Park). And even though she has no rhythm, with the Black kids’ blessing, encouragement and coaching, she decides to enter her school’s Annual Dance-Off Competition. That, in a nutshell, sets up the eventual big showdown around which Spork revolves, as quirky a coming-of-age comedy as you are ever apt to encounter. Written and directed by J.B. Ghuman, Jr., the picture might be best thought of as a cross of Kick-Ass and Napoleon Dynamite; or better yet as Mean Girls meets The Revenge of the Nerds. It’s admittedly fun to root for such an abject underdog, although while watching this screwball adventure, I couldn’t help but wonder whether students in junior high are really quite as precocious nowadays as these sexual- ly-active characters. Fair warning: some of the ethnic humor is of questionable taste, like when the white dance team performs in blackface or when a fat Chinese kid is called a “Chunk,” ostensibly a slur emanating from a blend of “Chink” and “chunky.” Book: ‘Uncaged Eagle’ Tells Life Story of Perseverance, Freedom by kam Williams For The Skanner News “This autobiography tells the story of my life while highlighting some of the tremendous people who helped me overcome adver- sities I faced and become who I am today. The odyssey begins with my family’s escape from the Ku Klux Klan in the backwoods of Louisiana in 1942. It continues with my boy- hood days on dirt streets in Shreveport… It chronicles my Air Force career that included 446 combat mis- sions in Southeast Asia... It is the story of the youngster who earned three dollars a week on his first job and ended up working for bil- lionaire Ross Perot... This book was written to inspire and motivate those who may still be trapped in an emotional cage of despair and frustration. Hopefully, they will be encouraged to seek the free- dom I was blessed to find – the freedom to create, dream, forgive, love, and to pursue the life meant for us by our Creator.” — Excerpted from the Introduction (pgs. xii-xiii) Richard Toliver was born in Bellevue, La. in 1938, a perilous time to be Black in the Deep South. When he was just a toddler, his father became embroiled in a boundary dispute with a racist White neighbor who was brazenly stealing land and livestock that had been in the family for genera- tions. Although the social mores of the day dictated that African-Americans were supposed to be defer- ential in the face of such injustices, Dick’s dad decid- ed to stand up for himself as the provider for a wife and five young kids. But when word reached the local Ku Klux Klan of the existence in town of an uppity Black man, a lynch mob was organized, and the Tolivers barely escaped with the clothes on their backs. In the process, how- ever, they lost the farm and everything else they owned. Despite the traumatic inci- dent which ruined his fami- ly financially, Richard did- n’t subsequently become embittered during formative years marked by poverty and Jim Crow segregation. Instead of hating Whites or the country which denied him equality, he overcame a host of obstacles via a com- bination of faith, patriotism and personal intestinal forti- tude. An Uncaged Eagle – True Freedom chronicles Dick’s Richard Toliver and his wife rise from the humblest of origins in Shreveport, La. to a distinguished, 26-year career in the U.S. Air Force. Here, in a colorful and most entertaining fashion, the highly-decorated retired Colonel recounts the highs and lows of a life well- lived. Precisely the sort of real role model deserving of accolades during this Memorial Day-Father’s Day season. an uncaged eagle – true Freedom by Colonel Richard Toliver, USAF (Ret.) Foreword by Ross Perot Saguaro Publishing Company Hardcover, $29.99 512 pages, Illustrated ISBN: 978-0-9840991-0- 8 June 1, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 5
