extended for a week! through march 15 at thePhoenix. com/best march 8–14, 2013 | Portland’s news + arts + entertainment authority | Free has portland lost its sense of humor? The state of comedy _by Lisa Bunker | p 8 waiting for safety anywhere on earth letters Patients’ patience wears thin | p 34 !Listen to WFNX.com Open Monday - Friday and the first Saturday of each month “I have always known you would be my wife.” The Churchill Diamond Engagement Ring DowntownCross Upstairs Jewelers at 570 Congress Street Just across the street from Empire Dine and Dance www.CrossJewelers.com 1-800-433-2988 PX3813 tHE PortLaNd PHoENIX | MarCH 8, 2013 3 FRIDAY 3/8 • 9:30PM DOUBTING GRAVITY FouSINCENd 1966Ed IN 1999 with SATURDAY 3/9 • 7PM special March 8, 2013 | Vol XV, No 10 SATURDAY SOUL, JAZZ & BLUES W/ THE TONEKINGS and HDRnB guests ON tHe COVer F photo by janice checchio | tHIS PAge F theater photo by aaron flacke UPCOMING SHOWS MON 3/11 - 9PM - FUNKY MONDAYS THE PLAYERS BALL p 16 WED 3/13 - 9PM - RAPNIGHT HOSTED BY SHUPE + ILL BY INSTINCT THUR 3/14 - 9PM - THURSDAY JAMS W/ A BAND BEYOND SATURDAY DESCRIPTION AND FRIENDS MARCH 9 www.statetheatreportland.com p 30 UPCOMING EVENTS Sat. 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Ra- chel McKibbens, a national and world poetry-slam champion this Just in who is known for her dark, candid, no-holds-barred verse, stops by Bull Feeney’s Tuesday. Making history prison assault rAre: guArd is chArged Examining ‘Seneca, Selma, and Stonewall’ Although prisoners and their advocates say rough It will be recalled as the most Portland chapter of the ftreatment by guards of inmates — amounting to crimi- f famous line from President Barack National Association nal assault — is not uncommon, Maine State Prison guard Obama’s second inaugural address for the Advancement of Captain David Cutler, 54, of Appleton, is apparently the only delivered January 21: Colored People, Rachel officer at the prison since 2005 to be charged with assault- “We, the people, declare today that the most Talbot Ross, will discuss ing an inmate — and only the second in at least 20 years. evident of truths — that all of us are created equal “Selma” — a series of The NAACP sees the alleged assault as a possible racial in- — is the star that guides us still, just as it guided protest marches that cident. The man named as the victim, Renardo Williams, 35, our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, took place in Selma, serving 15 years for drug trafficking, is African American. and Stonewall, just as it guided all those men and Alabama, in 1965. The The case highlights “the perceived patterns and prac- women, sung and unsung, who left footprints bloody demonstrations, tices of institutionalized racism at the Maine State Prison,” along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that organized in support of Rachel Talbot Ross, president of the Portland branch of we cannot walk alone, to hear a King proclaim voting rights for African the national civil-rights organization, emailed the Phoenix. that our individual freedom is inextricably bound Americans, helped to “The NAACP and Maine Department of Corrections have to the freedom of every soul on Earth.” make the rest of the agreed to work collaboratively to address this and other re- In the New Yorker, Hendrick Hertz- country aware of the lated issues in a timely manner.” berg said this “thrilling” section of as deep-seated racism that She added that incidents of racism “are definitely real and LL the speech would be remembered for plagued the South, and known,” but have not yet been proven. The Corrections de- decades to come; in the New York Times, propelled forward the partment said it had “no comment” on the Cutler case except David Brooks said Obama’s “unapolo- civil rights movement to say it had agreed “to work collaboratively with the NAACP getically liberal speech” was a “strong in general and the 1965 on issues.” argument for modern liberalism.” It barbara carre Voting Rights Act in On February 20, Geoffrey Rushlau, Knox County’s district was the first time in history that gay BEAMING IN author Kate bornstein’s next book particular. attorney, charged Cutler with knocking the legs out from rights were mentioned in an inaugural comes out in May. The third event under an unthreatening Williams on Christmas Eve while address. That Obama chose to high- mentioned in Obama’s he was handcuffed — because Williams disobeyed his order light three fundamental moments in address will be tackled to sit down. Out on bail and his employment “ended,” in the American civil-rights history signaled Brazil, and Sri Lanka, among other by queer writer and activist Kate Born- department’s phrasing, Cutler has an appearance scheduled his solidarity with those who have places) and that “the women at Seneca stein, author of several books including for April 8 in Rockland’s district court. been, and those who continue to be, Falls were quite aware of those.” Tap- Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest The 2005 assault case was dismissed, and, according to oppressed. ping into worldwide sentiment can be of Us (Routledge) and Hello, Cruel World: Rushlau, it’s the only other assault charge brought against a Three experts will speak to the sig- useful, if only to boost morale. 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Warren prison correctional officer he can recall in the 20 years nificance of the “Seneca-Selma-Stone- Secondly, Murolo appreciates that Other Outlaws (Seven Stories Press). Born- he has served as DA. The prison lies within his jurisdiction. wall” speech on Friday, March 8 — In- the women at Seneca Falls embraced stein will be unable to attend in-person When prisoners are charged with assaulting a guard — ternational Woman’s Day, incidentally the concept of “the personal is political” due to health problems, but will be not a rare occurrence — the law requires a felony charge, — as part of the University of Southern long before it became a feminist slogan beamed in remotely to offer her portion potentially bringing a prison sentence of up to five years, but Maine’s annual Women’s History in the late 1960s and 1970s.