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More copies of this ISBNCounter Culture Immigrant Stories From Pby Ronalt L S Catalani
Synopses & ReviewsReview:"The bookshelves at Powell’s are packed with tales of outsiders. But rarely does a book convey such a sense of otherness and, at once, familiarity as Portland lawyer and Asian Reporter columnist Ronault L.S. “Polo” Catalani’s new collection of essays, Counter Culture (Asian Reporter Publications, 106 pages, $12).
Penned by a man who describes himself as a “Spanish-speaking Asian Muslim island boy,” the book contains a scatted series of what he calls “immigrant stories” set in some of the most well known of Portland’s cafes and lunch counters. These are the common places that, for Polo at least, hide histories unseen by the general populace. A Denver omelette at Milwaukie’s Bomber Restaurant, a diner located in the shadow of a massive World War II bomber, prompts memories of Catalani’s family’s flight from Indonesia, and the terror he felt as a boy when a well-meaning Presbyterian sponsor showed him this very plane as a child. A stroll past Chinatown dim sum palace Fong Chong leads to the giddy search for a sacrificial duck destined for a ceremony to bless Southwest Portland’s MAX tracks.
Written in a raw style peppered with Indo and Spanish slang that often seems more like an oral history than literature, the tales are occasionally clunky, but always personal. That’s Counter Culture’s strength. It examines the sometimes painful and other times belly-laugh-funny seams where ethnicities converge, stories of the big aunties and wise uncles who ought to already be well-known names around town but aren’t, racist coworkers, and cringe-worthy moments where being yourself just doesn’t seem to work in this country. " Kelly Clarke, Willamette Week Dec. 3rd, 2008 Description:Essays in the traditional talking-story style of ASIAN REPORTER weekly columnist, Pacific Northwest civil rights lawyer and Southeast Asia political asylum attorney, Ronault LS (Polo) Catalani. Stories start at cafe counters of well-known Portland spots then spiral off into a world of differences. It's about Portland as a confluence of two grand river systems, our big Pacific blue, and all this rain. A place intensified by a lot of ethno-cultural rub and unabashed optimism. About the AuthorPolo describes himself as a Spanish-speaking Asian Muslim island boy. His family was expelled from the nascent nation of Indonesia, sought asylum in Holland, then resettled in Salem, Oregon.
Polo has been an activist-lawyer on the West Coast and Southeast Asia, contributing editor for The Asian Reporter, and commentator for Oregon and Wisconsin Public Radio. His work has been featured in The Statesman Journal, The Oregonian, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, on WNET 13 New York’s Imaging America and Religion & Ethics.
His community lawyering and organizing is not bent on integration. It is not assimilative in the tradition of the American civil rights movement. He has instead explored and unapologetically articulated the world of ethno-cultural differences necessary for a new versatile and vibrant national family. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
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