PSU Magazine Winter 2001

T H E Seven Come Eleven: Stories and Plays 1969-1999 by Charles Deemer (English faculty) , Writ– ers Club Press, 1999. Charles Deemer, an award-winning playwright, creenwriter, hort tory author, and journalist, teaches screen– writing at P U. Seven Come Eleven is a collection of seven of his short torie and 11 of his plays-his favorites or as he writes, " torie that still resonate with me." In The Half-life Conspiracy, a playwright come to the premiere of his one-act play only to discover that it is being directed by his ex-wife, who left him for another woman-the very subject of the play. Goodwill takes on new meaning in Christmas at the Juniper Tavern, when an Indian swami follows the trail of his stolen Rolls Royce (he owns many, ound famil– iar?) to a loca l tavern near hi new Am rican ashram/ranch. Deemer ma - terfully creates character that struggle with their lives and relationship while in the midst of change. Wild Life by Molly Gloss '66 , Simon & Schuster, 2000. In Wi/.d Life, Molly Gloss brings us back to the American frontier with a strong fema le character-reminiscent to her award-winning 1989 nove l, The Jump-Off Creek. But the tale takes a radical departure with the introduc– tion of Bigfoot. Charlotte Bridger Drummond, a turn-of-the century fem– inist, is rai ing five boys by her elf. She write women's adventure fiction, and her heroine at one time lives among giant ape-like creature of the Pacific Northwest. Drummond's grand– daughter now possesses her writings, including a diary account of Drum– mond's own ix weeks of living among hairy, quasi-human beasts. Is the diary fact or fiction? Gloss leave it open to interpretation while weaving the tale with bits and pieces from Drummond's fiction, her diary, and prominent writ– ers of the day. S H E L F Crime and Culture in Yup'ik Villages by Nella Lee (administration of justice faculty) , Edwin Mellow Press, 2000. Nella Lee chose an unusual focus– Eskimo Indians of southwestern Alaska-for a criminological tudy. It's an old story: the impo ition of West– ern cu lture over a native ociety's val– ues and traditions, and in the case of the Yup'ik, it had disastrous conse– quences. Her data show that the vil– lages that have most assimilated into the We tern lega l model have the highest rates of crime and deviance, and vice versa. The Yup'ik had main– tained law and order by instilling a sense of moral obligation. The book question our We tern cultural defini– tions of what constitutes ju tice and deviance in a mu lticultural world. The Kitchen Spoon's Handle: Transnationalism and Sri Lanka's Migrant Housemaids by Michele Gamburd (anthropology fac– ulty), Cornell University Press, 2000. Michele Gamburd attended her first field study in Sri Lanka at the age of two. She and her father were accom– panying her archeologi t mother for two year of study on the island. She eventually returned to Sri Lanka for her own archeological dissertation research and found that during the past 20 years, a great many Sri Lankan women have left their homes and fam– ilies to work a hou emaid in the wealthy oil-producing states of the Middle East. In The Kitchen Spoon's Reviews are of faculty and alumni books, recordings, and Web publica– tions. To have a work considered for this page, please submit pertinent information to Mary Ellen Kenreich, PSU Library faculty, via e-mail to kenreichm@pdx.edu , or fax to 503- 725-5799, or mail to Portland State University, PO Box 1151, Portland, OR 97207-0751. Handle Gamburd skillfully blend the Storie and memories of these returned women, their fami lies, and ne ighbors with interviews with government offi– cials, recruiting agents, and money len– ders. Renegade Kids, Suburban Outlaws: From Youth Culture to Delinquency by Wayne Wooden and Randy Blazak (sociology faculty), Wadsworth, 2001. The recent exp lo ion of school hoot– ings caught most Americans off guard. Upper-cla suburban kids shooting each other seems beyond explanation. Wooden and Blazak, both experts in the field of juve– nile de lin– quency, attempt to make some sense out of these alarming trends. They define what is normal and what is dev iant behavior among teens. For the layper– son, say the authors, thi book can perhaps erve as a "Guide to Troubled Teen ," providing too ls to examine relationships with their own children or the children they serve. Other books & recordings Let Them Eat Data: How Computers Affect Education, Cultural Diversity, and the Prospects of Ecological Sustainability, by Chet Bowers (education emeritus facu lty), University of Georgia Press, 2000. The Structure of English: Studies in Form and Function for Language Teaching (and workbook), by Jeanette DeCar– rico (applied linguistics facu lty) and Carol Franks (English faculty), Uni– versity of Michigan Press, 2000. D WINTER 2001 PSU MAGAZINE 5