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